Mina Jenkins
by Lolxo
Summary: Mina hasn't talked for 42 days, since the day her parents died in a car crash. As soon as she does opens her mouth a dark secret comes out.When she finds a girl from her past at school everything goes wrong again, from nasty rumors to missions to kill, everything ... OC/Johnny PLEASE READ AND REVIEW :) Rated T for slight swearing and light violence.
1. Meeting Mina

**A****/N: Hi everyone! I deleted a previous story called the girl without a voice cos I just thought it wasn't going anywhere. This is kind of the same story but I made it lodes better. I will put a star where the changing is so if you've read the girl without a voice you don't have to start from the start.! **

******PLEASE read and review. I am going to try and make this a proper story too, not just write up the start and forget about it like I did before!**

"Okay, so we have got a new girl coming today," Mike tried to make himself heard over the noise of the room, "Liam! Frank! Will you two stop playing pool for a minute and listen! Mina – that's her name – will be sharing with Tee because she has a few problems and I think Tee will be the perfect room-mate to help."

"If she has problems then she's not sharing with Tee!" Johnny shouted, as protective over his younger sister as ever.

"Well I'm afraid she's going to have to Johnny, anyway I don't mean anger issues or anything like that, she just doesn't...well...what I'm trying to say is...she-"

"Oh come on Mike, spill the beans. What new mad person's coming to The Dumping Ground this time?"

"Electra! For the last time. She is not mad! And as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," He cast an angry glance at the girl in blue. "She just doesn't talk."

An excited whisper went around the room before Gus stood up, looking confused and holding his notebook.

"Mike?" asked Gus.

"Yes?"

"You just said she doesn't talk. Everyone talks. They have to, otherwise they can't ask for things or tell people what they want. It doesn't make sense!"

"I'm sure she just finds different ways in getting what she wants. Now, she is arriving in around half an hour so I want Tee's bedroom ready by then. Understood?"

"Yes Mike." Everyone chorused.

"Great, I'll go up in ten minutes to check how you're all doing."

They trooped upstairs and into Tee's room. The walls were painted a light blue and on one wall was painted a farmyard with pigs, sheep and goats.

"Hey, Gus, at least she wont talk on your tour!" sniggered Liam.

"Quiet, I need to do some thinking." Gus turned and walked slowly out of the room, peering down intently and his fifteenth notebook . As he disappeared out of the door, Carmen started shouting at him.

"Gus you can't just go! You need to help move the bed too!" She turned and looked at the others, "If Gus isn't helping then I don't have to either."

"Nope, me either." Lily ran to catch up with her best friend.

"I better go too," Tee said, trying to dodge passed her elder brother. But Johnny didn't relent.

"No Tee you stay right here and help. Got that?"

"You can count me out as well." Electra's blue coat disappeared out of the room.

When it was just Liam, Frank, Johnny and Tee left Mike came up the stairs to see how they were doing.

"Hey, guys, where are the others? They were meant to be helping."

"MMMIIIKKKEEEEE! THE NEW GIRL'S HERE!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" He turned and looked at the four that were left, "By the time I show Mina her room," Mike gestured around the empty room. The wall's cracked paper had gone from light blue to a sort of grey. All the furniture was gone except from a wooden bed in the center of the room and a small wardrobe with a couple of orange coat hangers lying at the bottom . "I want the bed moved over there and the wardrobe next to it. Okay? He hurried down stairs to meet the new girl.

**Mina's P.O.V**

A man came running down the stairs. When he got to the bottom he looked at me for a minute before saying,

"Hello Mina, I'm Mike. Welcome to Elm Tree House. I hope you will be happy here as there is a great bunch of kids." His voice had a slight Irish tint to it, and as he stared at me I saw his eyes looked kind and caring. "If you could wait out here for a bit, I need to sort out your paper work with your social worker." I looked away and lent stiffly against the wall. He took this to mean "Okay" and followed my social worker into the small room labeled "Office".

When I heard them start to talk I edged closer to the door and listened.

"... Are you sure? I mean 42 days is quite a long time to go without talking!" I presumed this was Mike.

"Absolutely, she hasn't smiled since _that_ day either. It is understandable though, she's had a rough time lately, with her parents dying and then her aunt and uncle chucking her out..."

What? I had been told they didn't have enough money to look after me and their own five children. I hadn't known they didn't want me.

"...Oh?" I heard Mike say.

"Apparently she was a bad influence on their children and all her family ever did was beg for money."

That's a lie, we never begged.

"I didn't know her aunt and uncle didn't want her. I was told they didn't have enough money to care properly for her!"

"Yes, that is what she was told too."

"But surely she has a right to know why she is in care? We tell our young people the reason they're in care so I'm going to have to tell her if she stays here."

"Okay, but at least let her settle in before you tell her. As you can probably imagine, she is very delicate and the slightest thing can unbalance her or upset her." My social worker Emily warned.

I heard footsteps walk towards the door and the door opened. I quickly looked away and pretended to not notice them.

"Okay Mina? I'm sure you'll like it here and if you've got any problems then you can always go to Mike or Gina - that's the woman who let us in - or Tracy. I'm sure Mike will show you her later, and of course show you around. I need to go now as I have got a plane to catch. Bye!" I didn't care whether she went or stayed. She was annoying and while I was in a special care home for freaks she had kept on sending me to these stupid counselling sessions which didn't work. In the end she had to give up as I just sat there staring at the counsellor, not taking in a word she was saying.

***** (Here's where the changing starts)**

(I was moved from that care home because I kept getting in trouble. Even though I don't talk I can still throw a hard punch at anyone who annoys me, as they soon found out. The socials thought I might behave better at a normal care home. So after one and a halve weeks of ignoring counsellors and fighting with other freaks I'm now finally moved.)

She still thinks she can make me talk though. But she can't. No one can. Only I can decide whether I want to talk or not, and I don't. There's no point. Talking didn't save my mum or dad's life did it? Talking didn't stop our car crashing. Talking didn't stop my mum and dad being in a hurry, or drive to fast. And when I told them we were going to fast and that we were going to crash, they didn't listen. So what is the point of talking if not even your parents, in a matter of life and death will listen? No point.

The socials think I just don't talk or smile, they are right, I don't. What they don't know though, is that I don't have emotions any more. I think it's better that way, you don't get upset, angry, cross, sad, you're just _there_ a thing in the background. The audience to a movie. Except the movie is your life, and you're not part of it.

I can remember that day though, that horrible day, the day of my 11th birthday.

* * *

_It had been a cold, rainy, typical type of January day. The roads were slippery as there had been rain the night before and the water had frozen in some places on the road._

_"Mum, where are we going?Please tell me!" I said for the thousandth time._

_"No darling, it's a surprise. You like surprises, don't you? It would spoil the surprise if we told you now!" My mum had replied._

_"Why don't we have a sing along, I've got some birthday songs here." Dad produced a tape, slotted it into the drive, pressed play and instantly, loud, familiar music blared out of our car speakers and I began singing along happily. I could wait a few more minutes, after all, it was my birthday!_

_"Happy birthday to me,_

_Happy birthday to me,_

_Happy birthday dear me-e,_

_Happy birthday to me"_

_Suddenly, I spotted something, "Dad, I think you should slow down. You're going really fast and there was a sign back there saying "Warning, Slow Down. Ice Ahead." Dad! Slow down!"_

_"Don't worry sweetheart, I'm only doing sixty, the limit is seventy. In fact, now you mention it I think we should speed up a bit if we want to get to Leg- I mean if we want to get _there_on time."_

_"No, dad, honestly I think you're going to fast. Please slow down!" I was starting to panic as my dad carried on speeding up. Past sixty-five ... Seventy ... Seventyfive … Eighty … Eighty five … Ninety._

_"Nonsense, it'll be fine. Come on darling, let's do another song!" Mum chipped in on dad's side, "Ooh, I like this verse," _

_"Happy birthday to you,_

_You live in a zoo,_

_You look like a monkey,_

_"And you smell like one t-"_

_"DAD, SLOW DOWN, LOOK, I CAN SEE ICE!"_

_"Mina, will you please stop shouting in the car! There is no da - " That was the terrifying moment the car skidded across the ice, sliding over into the next lane. Sliding straight into the path of a giant twelve wheeled lorry._

_"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh" I screamed. The car had spun right around so we were facing the colossal__lorry as it sped quicly__towards us._

_It's breakes screamed as it tried to stop, but it couldn't. I remember seeing my parents grab each other's hand and dad whispered something to mum, she nodded. The huge lorry was nearly upon us now and I squeezed my eyes tight shut, and waited for the collision. _

_I was going to die, I was sure of it. You know how some people say that when you know your at death's door you do not feel scared any more? You know your about to die so you just sit back and embrace it? Well, that's what I felt like then._

_And then, suddenly, it happened._

_CRASHHH._

* * *

_I woke up in hospital two days after the accident. The first thing I asked was "Where are my mum and dad? Are they okay? When are they taking me on my birthday treat?" I can remember the look the nurse gave me as she started to tell me what happened._

_"Your car crashed love. You hit a big lorry, and...I'm very sorry...but...your mum...and dad...th-they didn't make it. I'm really very sorry." She looked away, as if embarrassed._

_I couldn't believe it, how could they be dead?_

_"__What do you mean 'they didn't make it'? They can't be dead! They have to take me on my birthday treat. They can't be! They CAN'T BE I shouted, my voice growing louder with each word, "THEY CAN'T BE!"_

_I was so cross they'd gone and died. And on my birthday too. It wasn't fair. It was meant to be my birthday, a day of happiness, but then they went and died, leaving me on my own. And all of a sudden, I wanted to die too. It wasn't fair. _

_I wished it had been me who had died and not them because then they would be the ones who where worrying and feeling scared, not me._

_I wished it had been me who had died and not them because then I would not have to live without seeing my parents ever again._

_I wished it had been me who had died and not them because then I would not have to live with the fact that I could have saved them and I did not. I could have shouted louder, or protested more when dad started speeding. But I didn't and it is my foult they are dead. That is why it should have been me who died, not them._

_And the secret of where we were going died with them._

* * *

And here I am now, in care. At Elm Tree House.

"Mina, why don't you go and meet the other kids, come on, I'll show you the way." Mike's voice snapped me out of my memories and back into the present time. Mike had started to walk away, clearly hoping I'd follow. I did. I might as well meet the other kids at this dump, mightn't I.

As I followed the Mike-man through a hallway I could hear shouting going on somewhere above my head. I ignored it and carried on walking.

"Here we are," Mike said opening a door, "This is the living room."

Suddenly, a girl of about my age jumped out of no-where.

"Hi, my name is Carmen. What is yours? Mike told us that you do not talk to anybody, is that true?" Without pausing for an answer, (I was not going to give her an answer anyway) she carried on, not noticing the look Mike was giving her, it plainly said 'Shut up and give her some space!'

"Why don't you talk? When did you stop talking? Oh and by the way, did I mention to you that my name is Carmen!" she said all these things at once leaving my head spinning. When she had finished talking I walked away not answering any of her questions. After all, I don't talk.

What I mean when I say I don't talk is I don't talk out loud. I say what I would have said if I talked, I just say it in my head. So, what I was saying in my head in answer to Carmen's questions was this.

"Hi, my name is Carmen. What is yours?"

_Nice to meet you I'm Mina._

"Mike told us that you do not talk to anybody, is that true?"

_Yes that's right, I do not talk._

"Why don't you talk?"

_Because there is no point_

"When did you stop talking?"

_I stopped talking the day of my parents car crash, later in the hospital after I had found out what happened I realised that there was no point talking._

"Oh and by the way, did I mention to you that my name is Carmen!"

_Yes you did._

But Carmen doesn't know what I said in my head so she just stared at me waiting for my answer. Then Mike spoke up.

"Erm, Carmen? She doesn't talk. She will not answer you,"

"Oh yeah! I get that now. Anyway , - "

She turned towards me and started speaking very slowly, like just because I do not talk means I can not understand speech.

" - This … Is … My … Best … Friend … Lily,"

A slightly taller girl came forward, she was dressed in purple from head to toe, like Carmen was dressed in pink. She was wearing a light purple alice band in her golden brown hair. On top of a sequinned dark purple t-shirt with the words 'Girls are awsome' printed, was a woollen, hand knitted, (well, it looked hand knitted) cardigan, purple of course! She had lilac skinny jeans on and purple Vans.

"Hello … Mina … Nice … To … Meet … You," She was also speaking slowly. It annoyed me. I haven't lost about fifty IQ points since I stopped talking. Even though they are most certainly not the only ones I have met who do that, in fact about fifty percent of the people I know have done it to me when they realised I didn't talk!

But Mike voiced my thoughts.

"Girls, you don't need to talk like that to her, even if she doesn't say anything back, she still understands plain English,"

"Oh, sorry Mike. We just thought since … you know,"

"It is not me who you need to apologise to, it's Mina."

The girls turned awkwardly round to face me.

"Sorry Mina," They chorused in unison.

_Whatever._

I walked away from them and spotted a nother girl sitting on a sofa next to a telly which had some rubbish program on that looked a bit like Britains Got Talent but she wasn't watching it. She looked older than Lili and Carmen and she had blue streaks in her hair that looked amazing! She had seemed to be watching our little conversation with amusement but had made no effort to join in.

I walked over to her and sat down on the sofa, leaning backwards into the softness of the seat. But as soon as I had just got comfortable the girl who I thought had looked nice reached out her hands and gave me a violent shove off the sofa. Ouch, it hurt as I somersaulted off the sofa and landed with a _bump_ on the floor.

_Owww!_

She sniggered.

"Weirdo!"

I looked around, sure that Mike would say something but he had gone.

**So thats it chap 1! Please read and review, also i'm not sure yet if i should do a OC/Liam or OC/Johnny. Also, do you guys want short (500 Words or so) updates every day or a long one like this every week? its up to you! REVIEW YOUR CHOICE**

**i also need more characters **

**Name:**

**Age:**

**Gets along with:**

**Hates:**

**Looks like:**

**Personality:**

**Gender:**

**Likes:**

**Relationship:?**

**Why in care:**

**Thanks xxx Ronnie**


	2. Shopping, Pranks and Harry

**A/N: I decided to do the small chapters every day but because im nice im posting another today:) it would make my day if someone reviewed! *Hint hint***

**Disclaimer - I don't own anything except from Mina. Anything you recognise – it's not mine.**

**Enjoy...:)**

**REWRITE OF THIS CHAP**

**Shopping, Pranks And Harry. **

* * *

"Weirdo!"

I looked around, sure that Mike would say something, but he had , I heard the sound of the door to the living room open and I turned my head towards the noise, in trooped one ... Two ... Three ... Four ... Five other children. As soon as a boy in a navy blue t-shirt and beige trousers kept up by a black belt high up his waist saw me he took something black and rectangular out of his pocket and started to walk quickly over to me.

I couldn't quite see what it was but the boy was nearly right in front of me. When he got to me he announced that his name was Gus. Bit of a weird name if you ask me, but then again, I'm called Mina so I can hardly talk!

After announcing his name, 'Gus' said, or rather, _told_ me that I had to tell him my first and second name.

_Mina Jenkins_.

But of course, I said that in my head and not out laud. Gus seemed to get annoyed when I didn't answer him and just looked at him blankly like he hadn't said anything in the first place.

Just when I thought he was about to explode a blonde haired girl walked up to him and explained to him why I wasn't answering.

"Gus, remember what Mike said; she doesn't talk."

That just got the already cross Gus even more annoyed.

"But she needs to tell me her name otherwise I can't put her down in my notebook and if I don't put her down in my notebook then I can't take her on the tour and if I don't take her on the tour then I can't cross that off my list and I can't do anything until I have crossed her off my list so today WILL NOT WORK."

I could see he was getting more and more worked up and by the end of his little 'speech' he was shouting!

Luckily, the blonde girl stepped in again and said.

"What if I tell you her name and the you can take her on the tour?" She looked at me and smiled, "I'm Tee by the way." Then she introduced me to everybody else, despite the fact I already knew three of them: Carmen, Lily, Elektra and now Tee, I suppose.

I now know there are twelve kids at Elm Tree House or The Dumping Ground as I heard one of the kids call it, the one with short kinda spiked up hair and braces, he was also kinda cute. It's weird I've never been into boys. Oh god, I hope I don't get a crush on him.

So here are the kids: Lily, the purple lover; Carmen, who I have heard is a drama queen; Elektra, the moody one; Tee herself, a kind animal lover and is really nice and I hope we can be fiends.; Liam, the conner and scammer; Frank, Liam's assistant scammer; Johnny, Tee's sister and also especially tidy (and cute); Gus who I now know has Asperger's Syndrome.

Also, there is three others apparently. Harry,who loves Giraffes and Sapphire, who I'm told is an amazing artist, are out for the day but will be coming back to the Dumping Ground later on today.

The other boy is called Toby and he loves comics according to Tee! He is with his part time foster parents at the moment but he too is coming back later.

Tee told Gus my name who then decided it was time for my tour.

"Time for Mina's tour. I need everyone to go to their bedrooms at once. The tour starts in one minute and thirty seconds … twenty nine … twenty eight ..." He seemed to have calmed down now.

He turned to me, "Remember, your not allowed to talk on the tour,"

Pfft, that's likely

"Follow me the tour has started," I sighed and followed the strange boy out of the room.

After about five minutes of Gus drowning on about the kids here and why they where here I switched off. I had had enough of, "This is Carmen's room, she lives at the Dumping Ground. She is twelve years old and loves the colour pink. Her best friends are Lily and Tee. Carmen is in care because her mum didn't look after her properly, she once left Carmen on her own for a whole week so that she could go on holiday with her boyfriend."

I honestly did not care about why Carmen was in care any more that I care about why some random person on the other side of the world is in care. But Gus just carried on, and on, and on!

"Carmen's mum once turned up here saying that she had changed and offering Carmen a chance to live with her in Spain. Carmen took up the offer but then it turned out that Carmen's mum was lying. This is Tee's room.."

My brain fell asleep and I followed Gus around the house like a sleepwalker, not listing. I was jerked awake by Gus shouting in my ear "Tour's over, you can come out of your bedrooms now," Finally!

Then Tee came out of her bedroom

"Just in case you have forgotten where your bedroom is I will show you now. Tracy says you can decorate it however you want in whatever colour you would like! Isn't that great?" Tee took my hand and pulled me along the corridor. When she first grabbed my hand I flinched, I'm not used to people touching me. Most people, once finding out that I don't talk think I'm weird and sometimes call me names that hurt me like weirdo and freak. But Tee doesn't seem like that so I let her lead me along the hallway to my bedroom.

The walls of my room had faded from a what should have been sky blue to a greying grey but I didn't care, I could paint it! There was a huge bed in the right hand side of the room, next to the window and a small wardrobe with a few coat hangers in next to the bed. I smiled, it was all mine.

I heard a knock at the door and I turned my head towards the noise. Tee said "Come in," and the door opened. A young woman maybe in her early twenties walked in and looked at me.

"Hello Mina! I'm Tracy, I work here alongside Mike and Gina, but of course you've already met them," She said cheerfully, "I was wondering do you want to come and pick out some paint to paint your room with, with me now?"

I shrugged, hoping she'd walk out so i could follow her and then she'd know my answer. She took the hint and nodded before walking out. As I had planned I followed her out and she guessed my answer.

"Can I come?" Asked Tee from the corner.

"Of course, you will be some company for Mina."

I felt happy, Tee was coming, and more to the point she actually wanted to come with us!

**At the shops**

"Just point to the colour you want then Mina," Said Tracy, as considerate as ever. I looked over all the colours, there was way too many to choose from. There was about fifty different shades of green, all with different names too. Lime Green, Bottle Green, Grass Green, Baby Green, Teal Green, Forest Green, too many! And then I reached the blues, over one hundred types. Sky Blue, Baby Blue, Sapphire Blue, Dark Blue, Light Blue, Violet Blue, Aqua Blue, Royal Blue, the list was never ending!

"Why don't you get this one?" Tee asked, pointing to the Sapphire Blue. I had to agree the colour was amazing. It was a kind of dark blue mixed with a rich but lighter blue. Truly Divine.

_Yes, I would like that one please._

I pointed to the Sapphire Blue and looked at Tracy.

"Good choice! All you have to do now is show that to our Sapphire and say you painted your room in that colour in honor of her and you will be in her good books already," Tracy joked and Tee chuckled.

"And trust me you do not want to be in her bad books," Tee giggled.

"She throws things at you!"

Inside my head I was laughing along with them, adding a few more jokes of my own. In reality, however, I was staring nonchalantly back at them, my face blank and expressionless.

They headed towards the till and I followed with the tin of Sapphire Blue paint carefully cradled in my arms like a baby.

**Flashback**

_"Daddy, can I have this one? Please? Pretty please on toast with sugar on top?" I pulled my most winning smile, which was pretty winning since I was six._

_"Oh, alright then! Bu-"_

_"Yay. Thank you daddy! You're the best daddy in the whole wide world!"_

_"-But you're going to have to promise to be very, very, very good, do you understand?"_

_"Yes daddy!"_

_We went and bought the item._

_"That will be nine pounds and ninety nine pence please," Said the cashier, he was very tall and very fat and had a very large red nose that wasn't fake._

_My dad handed over a ten pound note and received his one pence change. _

_"And that is one penny change sir, Thank you for shopping at Dunkies Paint and Hardware store, enjoy the rest of your day."_

_As we walked out of the shop I spotted my mum by the car._

_"Mummy, Mummy, we got Sapphire Blue paint and we are going to paint my whole bedroom with it, aren't we daddy?"_

_"We most certainly are," He said, swinging me on to his shoulders._

**End of Flashback**

"Second thoughts, why don't we buy two tins so Tee can paint her room too?" Suggested Tracy. Tee then grinned so widely you would think she had just heard that she had won the lottery, not just offered the chance to paint her room!

"Yeah, that would be great, then we would have like matching rooms!" Squealed Tee, still grinning from ear to ear.

In my mind I smiled, she wanted to have a room like me! Tee ran back and got another tin of the Sapphire Blue paint and we headed once more to the till.

Tracy handed the tins over and began to get her purse out.

"That will be eighteen pounds and ninety eight pence please," **(Notice my amazing maths skills :P ) **Said the cashier, he was exceedingly tall and exceedingly fat and had an exceedingly large red nose that definitely wasn't fake.

Tracy handed over a twenty pound note and waited to received her change.

"And that is one pound and two pennies change miss, Thank you for shopping at Dunkies Paint and Hardware store, enjoy the rest of your day."

Tee and I skipped over to Tracy's car and waited for her there. Tee was garbling on about something that had happened last year at The Dumping Ground. I did not really understand what she was talking about, but I let her carry on.

" ... So we thought we were going to be shut down so we made a girl bedroom and a boy bedroom and we had slipper things on our feet so we wouldn't miss the carpet and we were all going to share bath water, not all at the same time obviously, just the water, and then Liam sold all the stuff we didn't need like the carpets and Gus's piano and the beds to the house clearance men but then Mike said we couldn't do it so we had to buy all the things back. Then they closed Elm Tree House down but during the protest Lily fell off the roof but she was fine, anyway when we heard they were sending us to Burneywood ( Hell on earth ) we locked ourselves in the basement but then that didn't work so we just went to Byrneywood. Well, actually only Carmen, Sapphire and Harry went to Burneywood the rest of us went somewhere else."

Tracy finally caught us up and we drove off.

**Meanwhile, back at The Dumping Ground... **

**Carmen's P.O.V**

"Well, I think that she is really weird, the way she just stares back at you and never talks," I argued back, we where having a heated discussion with Gus in charge. It was about the freak Mina. "I mean it is her choice to talk or not so she obviously can talk if she wants to she just decides not to because then every one will take pity on her and buy her loads of new clothes and stuff like that. I vote we get rid of her. And so does Lily, don't you Lil?" I turned to look at my best friend. She looked torn between agreeing with her best mate and saying what she thought. "Don't you?" I asked again in surprise.

"Well, no actually Carmen I don't think that,"

"What? Lily your supposed to be my best friend!" Mina is a freak, full stop. How can Lily think otherwise?

"She's only been here five minutes, how can you already hate her?" Said Lily

"I don't, I just think she is a bit ... creepy," I lied through my teeth.

"I am with Carmen on this one, it is just weird not talking. And Carmen is right, she chooses not to so that she gets fuss," Elektra joined forces with me so I moved my seat so she could sit next to me.

"Give 'er a chance, you don't know why she's in care, do ya!"** ( My fail of writing Liam's accent )** Said Liam, taking sides with Lily.

"Yeah, she could have had a bad life and something happened. That's why she doesn't talk," Johnny had decided what team he was on: team Mina, and went to sit with Liam and Lily.

"But then, when will she tell us why she's in care?" Frank's go now. All six of us had divided ourselves into two groups. I was with Elektra and Frank who also didn't like Mina. The other group was Liam, Lily and Johnny who didn't mind Mina. Gus was at the end of the table taking notes on both sides' argument. The side that Gus thought had the best argument won the discussion.

"When she feels ready, obviously!" Lily again. But then suddenly I thought of a come back, and a good one too, it was sure to win for us and then Elektra and Frank would buy me loads of stuff and everyone would realise how amazing I am to have thought of it. I was so busy daydreaming about the presents they would give me I forgot to actually say it. Unfortunately Elektra seemed to have thought of that point too and actually said it.

"But if she doesn't talk then how is she going to tell us why she doesn't talk?"

"Yeahh," me and Frank agreed.

"We just have to convince her that talking helps and there is a point to talking." Arrggg! Why does Liam always have to think of every thing?

"And the side that win the discussion is the... Mina team!" Gus cried. All three Mina team members shouted 'Yayy!' And Liam said,

"Does this mean that we are all going to be nice to her and every one has to try and convince her that talking can help?"

"Yes," Said Gus. Then they all cheered.

**Back in the car with Tee, Mina and Tracy.**

**Back to Mina's P.O.V**

"Let's stop in the park on the way home and get an ice cream, yeah?

"Yeah great idea Tracy, can I have bubblegum flavor please?

**Flashback**

_"What flavor do you want Honey?_" _Asked my dad, "Honeycomb, Strawberry?"_

_"What flavors do they have daddy?" I asked._

_"Well, let's see ... they have: Honeycomb, Strawberry, Bubblegum, Raspberry, Banoffe, Banana, Toffe, Coffe, Hazlenut Crunch, Liquorish, Rasperry Riple, Chocolate, Marshmallow Delight, Vanilla, Chocolate Crackle, Thunder and Lightning, Caramel Surprise and Creamy_ Dreamy. **( Best ice cream flavor in the world is creamy dreamy)** _Which one would you like Poppet?"_

_"Can I have two flavors daddy, because I really want to try two flavors?" I asked, putting on my angel grin._

_"Hmm, which two flavors do you want love?" He asked, I could sense that he was on the verge of saying yes._

_"Creamy Dreamy and Bubblegum please daddy?" I said tentatively._

_"Oh all right then, but only if you don't tell mummy?"_

_I nodded my head vigorously "I wont. Promise."_

_"Can we have a double scoop of Creamy Dreamy and Bubblegum please?" Daddy asked the ice cream lady with large boobs._

_"That's two pounds fifty please?"_

_Daddy gave the woman two pounds fifty exactly and I got my Ice cream._

**End of the Flashback**

"We'll see Tee" Said Tracy, but I knew that meant 'yes of course' and so did Tee as she started grinning again. We got out of the car and ran to the the small ice cream shop. Tee and I looked at all of the flavors. There was Honeycomb, Strawberry, Bubblegum, Raspberry, Banoffe, Banana, Toffe, Coffe, Hazlenut Crunch, Liquorish, Rasperry Riple, Chocolate, Marshmallow Delight, Vanilla, Chocolate Crackle, Thunder and Lightning, Caramel Surprise and Creamy Dreamy.

"Can we have two flavors Tracy, because we really want to try two flavors?" Tee asked, putting on her angel grin.

"Hmm, which two flavors do you want?" She asked, I could sense that she was on the verge of saying yes.

"Creamy Dreamy and Bubblegum please Tracy?" Tee said tentatively. And I poked my finger at the same ones and Tracy got the message.

"Oh all right then, but only if you don't tell Mike?"

Tee nodded her head vigorously and I did the same, just in my own head "We wont. Promise." She said.

"Can we have two double scoops of Creamy Dreamy and Bubblegum please?"Tracy asked the ice cream lady with huge boobs.

"That's five pounds please?"

Tracy gave the woman five pounds exactly and we got our Ice creams.

We wandered through the park, licking slowly at our ice creams, savoring the taste. Just then a little boy with blonde hair and cute blue eyes came running towards us, closely followed by a much older girl with dark brown kinda frizzy hair and brown eyes.

"Tracy!" He shouted giving Tracy a big hug.

"Aw, hello Harry. Did you have a nice day?" Tracy answered. Ah, so this is Harry. Does that mean the girl behind is Sapphire?

"Yes and Sapphire bought Jeff a friend. Look!" He said, shoving a mini toy giraffe in her face. "He is called Jeff Number Two!"

"That's nice Harry!"

"Do you like him Tracy?"

"Of course I do, but maybe you could call him something different, he might not like to be called Jeff The Second?"

"No, no, no, he likes it don't you Jeff Two?" He made Jeff The Second nod his head and whisper something into his ear. "Jeff The Second asks who's she?"

"Oh yeah, sorry Harry, I forgot to introduce you. This is Mina. Mina meet Harry," She pointed at the cute blonde boy who I knew was Harry. "Harry meet Mina." She pointed at me this time.

"Hello Mina, do you like Giraffes?"

_Yes Harry._ I said in my mind._ Yes I do._

"Oh, um ... Harry, she doesn't talk." Tracy seemed to find it awkward to tell the small child that I don't speak out laud.

"Okay, neither does Jeff. He just says what he wants to say in his head," Harry seemed fine with the fact that I don't speak to people. "I'm the only one who can understand him!" He carried on proudly, "Maybe I'm the only one who can understand you too Mina?"

I nearly smiled, then stopped myself, just in time. He was just too cute! I saw Tracy and Tee smile too. Then the girl I presumed was Sapphire - since she was with Harry - spoke.

"Who's this Tracy? Another new girl for The Dumping Ground?"

"Yes, that's right. Be nice to her. Okay?" Tracy said anxiously.

"I will, just as long as I'm not sharing a room with her."

"Don't worry, you are not."

She let out a clearly visible sigh,

"Good, come on Harry let's go home."

"No Sapphire, I want to stay with Mina!" Harry argued back, much to my surprise. I nearly smiled again and stopped myself just in time again. What was it about this boy that made me fell like I really wanted to smile, or reach down and give him a big hug? Like the one he gave to Tracy. Or the ones I used to give to my mum and dad.

Sapphire looked at him with about as much surprise as I had done, but for a different reason.

"What? No. Harry, you don't want to hang around her, she don't talk!"

"Yes I do Sapphire. She looks nice."

Aww, I just wanted to talk to him and say thank you. But I didn't . Because I couldn't. I wasn't ready to talk again yet. I nearly let my face slip into a smile this time, but I stopped it right before it was a proper one. Tracy noticed though and gave me an encouraging little squeeze on the shoulder and a nod of her head.

"No, come on Harry. We are going home. You'll see Mina - What's her face - in a bit. Come on."

Harry followed her out of the park this time but gave me one last big smile before joining Sapphire. This time I couldn't help myself and smiled a full smile that lasted about a second before I quickly withdrew into my shell again. Tracy noticed again and nudged Tee. Tee saw and grinned too. I had turned my smile off again by that point though.

"Come on, let's go home to!" Tracy smiled.

"Yeah," Agreed Tee, "Then you'll get to see Harry again soon too," She smiled too, and I followed her out of the park and into the red car. The journey back to Elm Tree House didn't take long and soon I was standing back in front of the door, ringing the door bell. Soon, Elektra with Carmen and Frank close behind her, like body gourds, came and answered the door.

Almost immediately Tee started showed them the paint that we had bought.

"Look it's called Sapphire Blue, that is the name of this colour. We named it after Sapph!" She was on a roll, again! But, then she started swinging it around her head wildly, for goodness knows why! As soon as she started I knew it was a mistake. The paint tin's lid flew open just as it was coming down, and instead of going all over Tee as I had thought it would, it flew forward and landed all over Elektra, Carmen and Frank.

Most of the paint splashed over Elektra's hair, but some went on her light blue, now Sapphire Blue T-shirt and her dark blue jeans. Electra got the most of the paint since she was directly in front of Tee. However, Carmen and Frank still got a small splash.

I stared, wondering what Elektra would do, it wouldn't be good, whatever it was. Elektra was speechless, she probably could not believe what had just happened. Then, finally, she spoke, sorry, she shouted. I could see the anger bubbling up inside her as she shouted louder and louder.

"What the hell where you thinking? Throwing paint all over me? I'll get you for the Tee Taylor, I will! And you too Mina, whatever your name is. I'll get both of you for this!"

"Elektra, why don't you go and get cleared up, and you too Carmen, and Frank. I'm sure you can see Tee didn't mean it, did you Tee?"

"No , I am really sorry Elektra and you Carmen and Frank,"

"There, see? She didn't. Now go and get cleaned up. Go on. Chop, chop!"

They turned and headed off towards the stairs, but just at that moment, Lily came down them and burst out laughing at the site of the three blue aliens.

"Ahaha. What happened to you three?" She asked Carmen, still laughing, "Did you get attacked by a blue paint monster or something?"

"Shut up, Lily. We are _not_ friends any more. Remember?" Carmen growled back, stressing both the words _remember_ and _not _as she did. And the three carried on up the stairs.

I heard Tee ask Lily why she and Carmen weren't friends any more and Lily started talking about some discussion that every one had, which I did not really understand.

"We were having a discussion about Mina,"

I leaned further towards them and listened carefully in.

"Me, Liam and Johnny don't mind her - ,"

Yay, Johnny doesn't mind me. But that doesn't actually mean that he _likes _me, does it? Lily carried on.

" - But Carmen, Frank and Elektra really don't like her and think that she is freaky. So we ended up having an argument, or 'discussion' as Gus put it, about her. My team won the argument or 'discussion', which ever you prefer. So since we won the argument slash discussion, it has been team against team for nearly everything so far. For example, Elektra's team were in the garden and then my team decided to go to the garden, they didn't let us. Each team is trying o think of a plan to either get Mina to talk and / or tell us about her past, ( My team ) or get rid of Mina ( Elektra's team ) ."

She finished, panting, having said all that in just one breath.

I was bewildered, half of Elm Tree House hated me and the other half wanted me to talk and tell them about my past, riiiiiiiiiiight.

"Well, I'm on your team for definite! She's really nice and fun too!"

_Thank you Tee! _

She likes me, and whats more, she thinks that I am nice and that I am fun too! This day just gets better and better!_  
_

"Yeah, I agree. She seems nice and fun. Even though I don't really know her and she does not talk, she still seems fun and nice!" Lily said again.

_Thank you Lil! _

Lily likes me too! And agrees with Tee that I am fun and nice! I decided now was a good time to go and join in on their conversation. I don't mean join in as in talk, I mean join in and listen to them talking, with them knowing I am there, and talking to me. So I walk over the few meters between us and go and join them.

* * *

**In Elektra's room**

**Elektra's P.O.V**

After I had got cleaned up I called a team meeting with Carmen and Frank. When they got to my room they both whispered our secret password and I allowed them to come in.

"Cobra," Whispered Carmen, and then she did the three secret knocks.

"Cobra," Whispered Frank and then he did the three secret knocks.

"Come in," I said as they walked in. "Right, we are not letting them get away with pouring paint all over us are we?"

"Well, it wasn't on purpose, and Tee did say sorry," Frank said, a very worried and doubtful look on his face

What? Was Frank going soft?

"It was on purpose, and anyway, she didn't mean the sorry she said, did she Carmen?" I said, poking Carmen sharply in the ribs. I knew she'd say yes. Carmen would do anything to get back at Lily for laughing at her earlier today. That is Carmen for you.

"Yes, it was obviously on purpose."

See? I told you.

"Come on Frank, wouldn't you like to play a harmless prank on them for getting your new shirt all paint-y?" I knew he'd say yes this time too.

"Okay, but only if it's a prank, it could be fun!"

What did I tell you?

"Good, right, have either of you got any ideas for a prank or two that is relatively easy to pull and that we could play on them?" I said hopefully. Looking from face to face I saw that they hadn't and sure enough, they voiced their thoughts after a minute of quiet thinking.

"No sorry Elektra, I have not really pulled a prank before." Not pulled a prank before? And I thought he was a scammer!

"Carmen?" I knew the answer even before I'd began to ask the question. The answer would be another no.

"No."

There we go, I knew it. But it is a good thing I always know a few pranks ready to pull.

"Then it is lucky I do, listen!" I leaned forward and whispered my idea to them. They nodded and we began to discuss how to pull it. A while later when our plan was already for action I nodded at my two helpers and they disappeared out of my room to put the prank into action. I lay back on my bed feeling content.

* * *

**In the living room a while later**

**Lily P.O.V  
**

"Le''s all go into the garden to talk," Said Liam, "I dunno why, but I always find it easier to talk outside."

So we all got up, following our leader ( Liam ) out of the room and outside, just as we were passing underneath Carmen's bedroom window, the window was pulled up suddenly and Carmen's and Frank's heads popped out followed by two full buckets of pink, fat, slimy worms, slugs the size of your hand and LOTS of mud. Carmen and Frank tipped the critter filled buckets and before we knew what was happening the contents of the bucket fell on mine and Liam's head.

I screeched and looked up to where Carmen and Frank were giggling to each other and high - fiving each others muddy hand. They looked down at me and Liam covered in earth, gave one more small chuckle each and their heads disappeared once more back into Carmen's room and once again, the window was slammed shut.

Arhhhh, I was so annoyed, I wanted to punch them both then and there, and judging from the look on Liam's face, he wanted to do the same. But being sensible me I controlled my anger and soon found the whole thing kind of funny. The others in our team were looking daggers at the window above, as if killing the window would have an effect on Carmen and Frank, who were probably on their way to tell Elektra how successful their prank had been as we speak.

But after a few minutes of silence I burst out laughing, unable to control myself any longer. One I had started laughing Liam did too and after realising that their leader found it funny, the rest of the team started laughing uncontrollably too. I laughed for about five minutes before I realised that I had slugs and worms in my hair and down my back. Urgh, gross. I immediately stopped laughing and started screaming instead, which made everyone else laugh even harder than they already were, if that is possible.

"Arggg! There are worms and slugs down my back, argg!" I screemed, every one just carried on laughing at me and Liam, but I suspect it was more to me than to Liam."No, stop laughing, it is NOT funny. Shut up!" I was getting frustrated, and I swear I would have shouted as loud as I possibly could and told every one that I would punch them in the face if they did not shut up right that instant right then if Liam had not interrupted when he did. He had realised something and as soon as he told us everybody shut up immediately.

"Hey, everyone, shut up a minute, I just thought of somethin'." As soon as those words were out of his mouth every body went quiet. It is like he has some weird power that no matter what he says, all he has to do is say it and straight way everyone falls silent. Whatever he says and however quiet he says it, everyone will here what he said, listen to what he said and do what he said in a matter of seconds. "I just thought of somethin'," He repeated, "You all know what this means, don't you?" No-one said anything so he carried on, "This means war. A prank war. Team Liam vs Team Elektra. And listen, I have an idea. First what we do is we go to Gus, and ask him to keep notes on what pranks both teams do, tomorrow before bed we ask him which team has had the most successful pranks, whichever team has had the most successful pranks win. Secondly, we send one person to tell Team Elektra about it, say that if they refuse then we automatically win. " He finished then looked at Tee, "Tee will go and tell Team Elektra, also tell her it begins tomorrow morning at whatever time you get up and finishes just before bed time. Me and Lily need to go and get changed."

* * *

**In Elektra's room**

**Frank's P.O.V  
**

We threw the contents of our bucket, hoping it would land on someone. And much to our surprise, it did. Both buckets hit a target. Mine went all over Lily's head and she started screaming, but not before Carmen tipped her bucket and the mu, worms and slugs flew down and landed on Liam, he yelped in surprise and looked up towards us, as did Lily but a few seconds after. I had to laugh, even though Liam is supposed to be my best mate, which he isn't now. Carmen and I high - fived and then Carmen burst out laughing at the sight of _her_ best friend ( Lily ) covered in mud.

We laughed a bit longer then decided to go back and tell Elektra how it had gone, she deserved to know, after all , it was her idea to prank them. And her idea to do this to them! So, still laughing, we walked back to Elektra's bedroom. I knocked three times, whispered Cobra, and she let me in, then it was Carmen's turn. She did the same as me, the knocking three times and the whispering of Cobra. Elektra let her in too and then faced us both,

"Well then? How did it go? Did it work? Did you get them? Come on tell me!"

"It went really well, what we did is we waited behind the window, out of sight until we saw them coming, just like you told us to, then as they went underneath us we quickly pulled the window up, and chucked the two buckets' contents out of the window. We were not sure if it would hit anyone, but it did! Mine hit Lily bang on the head and Carmen's went all over Liam! They both started shouting so we came back here to tell you," I quickly re - told Elektra our story and she looked suitably impressed.

"Good, well done. I bet Tee will never chuck paint over us again!"

Just as Elektra had finished speaking there was a knock at the door and none other than Tee Taylor herself walked in, her nose in the air.

"What do _you _want?" Elektra snapped at her.

"I've got a message from our team," She announced.

"Carry on," For some reason Elektra seemed interested.

"Our team challenges you to a prank war, Gus will be in charge of the point scoring. Which ever team pulls the most successful pranks win. The prank war start tomorrow from twelve in the night to when the first person goes to bed tomorrow evening. The winning team will decide what happens to Mina. When I say _what happens to her, _I mean whether we will be nice to her or not."

"And what happens if we don't accept the challenge?" I knew Elektra was going to, she just wanted to know what would happen if she did not want to.

"If you do not accept the challenge then Team Liam will automatically win the prank war and you lot," She paused, looking Elektra straight in the eyes. I saw Elektra glare at her. "And you lot, will have to be nice to her for the rest of her time at The Dumping Ground." She finished and looked around. I saw Elektra glare once more at her and then answer the question. She gave the answer I had suspected she would give from the very start.

"Fine, we accept the challenge," Tee looked pleased with herself. "But, on one condition,"

Tee's happy grin faded at once.

"What?" She asked suspiciously.

"On the condition that the pranking starts now." Hmm, clever move Elektra.

Tee looked like she was thinking carefully at that one, like she could not decide whether to let Elektra win on this one or not. On one hand she knew Liam would not be pleased if she said no to that condition and our team did not accept the challenge, even though they would win. But on the other hand, he might be even more cross with her if she agreed to something first and asked him later. Finally, she made her decision.

"Well ... We have not asked Gus yet if he would do the points, so why don't I go ask him and when he says yes, that is when the pranking starts?"

Aha! Clever Tee.

"Okay agreed. See you when the pranking starts!" Elektra grinned then pushed Tee roughly out of the room and shut the door quickly in her face. Then she looked around at us and said. "Let's get pranking!"

* * *

**Back in the living room.**

**Tee's P.O.V  
**

After getting the door slammed shut in my face, I walked back to the living room to find them and tell them about the deal I had made. I just hoped that Liam wouldn't be too cross with me.

I reached the living room and walked in.

"Well, what did they say?"

"Did they say yes?"

"Did they seem happy about it?"

"Was Elektra mean to you?"

"I bet they said yes!"

"Did they agree?"

"Where were they?"

"Were they in their room?"

"Was Carmen and Frank with them?"

I was a little overcome with the amount of questions I was asked as I stepped through the doorway. I answered as many as I could remember, then told them what happened.

"Yes, yes, kind of, a little, yes, yes, yes - in Elektra's, yes they were."

"Okay, Tee. Start from the start and tell us exactly what happened." Liam said.

"Right, first I told them about the prank war and challenged them to it. Elektra then asked what would happen if they refused. I said that we would win and they would have to be nice to Mina for ever," I glanced at Liam and he nodded for me to carry on, "Elektra said that they would accept on one condition, that the prank war started today," Before I could carry on Liam interrupted and muttered,

"Just like Elektra to make sure it is convenient for her," He noticed that I had stopped and said, "Sorry, carry on Tee."

"I told her that I hadn't asked Gus to point score yet and that when he said yes the prank war would start."

"Good thinking Tee, then you have time to come back and tell us before Elektra starts playing pranks on us, " Lily, my best friend told me. I smiled.

"Thanks. Elektra agreed to that and pushed me out of her room, this means that as soon as we ask Gus to score points, the prank war starts."

"Yes, and knowing Elektra, she will probably have some prank ready so the second after Gus says yes, when we aren't ready she can pull it. Well , we will just have to have a prank or two up our sleeves, ready to pull too, if need be. And luckily for you, I have just the one!" Liam said excitedly, "Listen,"

We put our heads together and he told us his plan, we all nodded and I went off to ask Gus whether or not he would be point scorer and judge for the prank war. None of us had any doubts that he would say no. Gus loves doing stuff like this.

I went out of the room in search of Gus. When I reached the hall I found him playing the piano, I was about to stop him when I thought better of it, after all, I wanted Gus in a good mood, not a bad one. And he probably wouldn't listen to me if I interrupted his Piano playing.

* * *

**Soo, was it okay? please tell me! the next chap is called the prank war and will only be a thousand words or so, not as long as this was my longest chap so far! YAY please read and review, they keep me going!**

**Remember to follow the story if you want to be reminded when I post a new chappie!**

**Thanks, Ronnie xxx**


	3. Prank war or not

**A/N: Thank you every one who has reviewed! It made me so Happy! You silent readers are evil :P here is chappie four. PLLLEEEASSSE REEEAAADD AAANNDD RRRREVVVIIIIEEW. I love reading them and they make me write faster!  
**

**ENJOY...  
**

**Prank War**

I went out of the room in search of Gus. When I reached the hall I found him playing the piano, I was about to stop him when I thought better of it, after all, I wanted Gus in a good mood and not a bad one. He probably wouldn't even listen to me if I interrupted his Piano playing.

I waited until he had finished practicing. When he had, he stood up and looked at me.

"What do you want?" He said as he put his things away tidily. Not that there was any other way Gus did it!

"Um, Gus, do you have time to talk now that you have finished practicing?" I asked, trying to pick the right words. With Gus you have to be very literal for him to understand what you are saying.

"If you start talking now then you will have seven minutes and forty two seconds to talk to me. After that I need to go and talk to Mike."

Okay, seven minutes and forty two seconds should be enough time to tell him. Unless he wanted the whole story, I sighed and then got back to work asking Gus.

"Well, Gus. My team and Elektra's team are going to have a prank war. We need you to be the point scorer and we need you to decide who the winning team are, Could you do that please?" I crossed my fingers, hoping it would work.

"Yes, just as long as you tell me who is in who's team," Pheww, the prank war ... was on!

"Okay," I replied happily, "The teams are: In Liam's team is me, Mina, Lily, Johnny, and Liam, of course. And in Elektra's team are, Elektra herself, Frank and Carmen. All you have to do is count which pranks succeed and which don't for each team. Can you do that?"

"Yes, that's fine. You have another three minutes if there is more you want to ask me, "

"No, It is fine I have finished,"

"Good." He walked off, probably in search of Mike.

I hurried back to the living room to tell Liam and the others the good news. I walked in through the door and looked around, expecting to see four faces looking up at me expectantly. But instead, I got a shock, they had all gone. I tried to work out where they could be, and in the end just walked off up the stairs to Liam's room. I had decided to check all of their room's starting with Liam's as he is our team captain and then the kitchen and then, finally, the garden.

I knocked on Liam's room door.

"Come in," I heard Liam say before changing his mind. "Wait, no. Who is it first?" He said in case it was Elektra.

"Just me," I said, still waiting outside the door.

"Oh, okay. Come on in," He let me in.

"Gus said yes he would be point scorer," I said as soon as I stepped foot in the room. The faces around me brightened and Liam grinned.

"Great , good work Tee. The rest of you, this means that the prank war ... is on!" He seemed happy enough, and when I looked at Mina she had a half smile on her face. I was happy Mina was coming out of her shell already and she had only been here a day. I was sure that by the end of the week ( with Harry's help, as she seemed to really like him. And maybe Johnny as I had seen her glance at him a few too many times to go unnoticed! ) we would have her smiling again.

"What prank are we going to play on them Liam?" Johnny asked happily, "Can it be a _really_ good one. One that gets Elektra's team and Elektra _really_ mad!" Johnny was really exited at the prospect of annoying Elektra, but personally, I couldn't blame him!

**Mina's P.O.V**

Tee had just came in with the news that the prank war was on. I was really exited, I have never pranked someone before! But it seemed, judging by the look on Johnny's face when he asked what prank we were going to pull on the others, to be fun. And definitely, something to get exited by!

"I have got one prank lined up for them but I will need all of your help, got that?" Liam has a prank! Yippee!

"What prank is it Liam? When will we do it?" Lily joined in the conversation with a question.

"Right, listen closely you lot, this is what we are going to do ... " I shuffled forward a bit and leaned closer in so that I could hear what the brown haired boy was saying. I wanted to help them prank the other team and I hoped that Liam would remember me and give me a job in the pranking too. As I couldn't exactly ask, now could I?

"This is what we are going to do. Tonight, when Elektra's team are fast asleep we are going to creep into their rooms and put one of each of their hands in a bucket of warm water. We will use three buckets from the kitchen and I will do Elektra, Johnny and Lily will do Carmen and Mina and Tee will do Frank." Yey! He had remembered me! And best of all, I was paired up with Tee! Yey! Then Liam turned and spoke to me again. "Of course, ya don't have to do it if ya do not want to." I edged closer to Tee to show I wanted to do it. He got the message and then nodded.

**Later that night at 02:00 AM**

I was fast asleep until I felt something shaking my shoulder. I turned over and blinked my eyes until they would open. Tee was standing there in her dressing gown, staring down at me with her big brown eyes. If I talked I would have said _What? _but I do not, so I did not.

"Come on Mina, wake up. We need to go and prank Frank," I carried on staring at her, trying to remember why, "Remember, the prank war?" Now I remember, I get up, put on my dressing gown, pull on some bunny slippers and follow her out of my room.

We creep down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible. When we reached the fourth from the bottom step, Tee whispered in my ear that the next step creaked loudly when you stepped on the middle of it. I watched her carefully step on the left hand side of it and it creaked a little. Then it was my turn. I went to the left too and it hardly creaked at all. Tee smiled at me and said well done.

We went carefully into the kitchen. I looked around for the buckets or Liam, Johnny or Lily. Guessing what I was thinking Tee said,

"The others are doing theirs at the moment, we are the last. Look there is the last bucket." She pointed to a white bucket and I grabbed it, not realising that two plastic cups had been placed on top of it.

Tee's quick thinking saved the day ( Or night! ) as she grabbed the two cups, one in each hand just before they hit the floor and woke the whole house up. I looked apologetically at her and she grinned.

"Never mind, I caught them didn't I?" I smiled, but, since it was dark she couldn't see me.

I carried the bucket upstairs, again following Tee. We stepped to the left of the creaky stair and soon we were standing outside the bathroom. I gave the bucket to Tee and she disappeared inside to fill the bucket up with luke - warm water. She came back soon enough and we tiptoed painstakingly slowly towards Frank's bedroom door. When we reached the door Tee went in first and then beckoned me in too. She signaled that I should go down on all fours; so I did. She did too, but it was much more difficult for her, since she was carrying a bucket fill to the brim with water.

Frank was sound asleep as we neared his bed in the center of the room. Tee went on ahead and placed his right hand gingerly in the bucket of water. As soon as this was done we warily crept back out. Before long we were back outside my bedroom door. I went in and Tee followed, to my surprise. She saw me looking at her confused, gave me a quick hug and ran back out.

I fell asleep feeling happy and content, Tee wanted to be my friend and I had just played my very first prank. I wondered why we had put his hand in a bucket of water, what would that do? Liam had not explained that bit, but then he probably thought I knew. Oh well, I'd find out in due time.

**The following morning**

"MIKE!" I was woken up the following morning by a loud shout from Lily and Carmen's room. ( They shared ) What was going on? "MIKE!" I could tell now that it was Lily shouting from her and Carmen's room. "MIKE! CARMEN HAS WET THE BED AND NEEDS YOUR HELP!" I laughed.

"Lily, shut up! No I haven't!" Carmen was cross!

"Yes you did!" Go on Lily! Just then Mike came running up the stairs shouting.

"WHAT on earth is going ON?" He went into the two girls' rooms. "Carmen! Why have you wet the bed? I thought you had grown out of that!" I could hear laughing from down the corridor and then another shout. This time it was from Elektra's room.

"Ahhhh! I. Am. Going. To. KILL. Whoever put my hand in a bucket of water!" Suddenly, it clicked. The bucket of water ... Wetting the bed ... Our prank must have done that! How, I had no idea, but it had.

"Oh, not you too Frank, that is three people who wet the bed last night!" Ahaha Frank had wet his bed too.

I got out of bed, got changed and walked out onto the landing. There was a huge commotion out there. Elektra, Carmen and Frank were shouting at Lily, Liam and Johnny. Mike was shouting at whoever would listen ( which was nobody ) that this sort of behavior was not acceptable and whoever put Elektra, Carmen and Frank's hands in buckets of water last night would be punished. Gina was just coming up the stairs a bewildered look on her face. I could tell she was just about to scream, but luckily for every body within earshot , the doorbell went just then. Gina hurried back down the stairs to open the door to whoever was standing there.

I couldn't tell who was there but Gina let him or her in and then marched back up the stairs. I put my hands to my ears and sure enough, as soon as she had heard enough of what was being said around her to realise that someone ( s ) had pulled a prank on Carmen, Frank an Elektra, she started shouting in a voice that I'm sure people miles away could hear.

"SHUT UP! EVERYONE!"

The talking stopped for a brief second and Mike took that chance to say what he had been trying to say for the past ten minutes.

"Right, I know somebody has gone into Elektra, Frank and Carmen's room last night and pulled the 'hand in a bucket of water' trick on them. I have my suspicions," He glared at Liam who pulled his 'hurt' face and carried on. "About who it was but if no - one owns up I will have to dock all three allowances of the people who were not pranked by ten pounds, for being irresponsible." He looked from Tee to Lily and from Lily to Liam.

"Wait, hold on there Mike! There's more that just three people who were not pranked!"

"Liam, Gus told me about your discussion and about the teams, I know who it was!"

"That still leaves Mina though, doesn't it?"

"Mina has only been here a day and she doesn't talk so I doubt she would get involved in any of this, would you Mina?"

I didn't know what to do, I'm not talking so I couldn't admit I helped too, so I just nodded.

"There you go Mike, she helped to!"

"Umm, okay then," Mike looked unsure whether to dock my allowance as well as the others or not. He probably thought I would get all upset if he did so he just looked uncomfortably around and said that he would not dock our allowances this time, but if it happened again then he would. We all nodded and then Elektra burst out indignantly.

"What? Mike! You can't just let them get away with this!"

"Oh, come on Elektra! they were only having a bit of fun. They have promised not to do it again," We all nodded again and then Liam started laughing at the sight of Elektra's face turning ever redder.

"Caught a bit of sun Elektra? Oh, silly me I forgot your face is naturally tomato red!"

Elektra turned and stormed back into her room, missing the warning glance Mike gave to Liam as he headed back downstairs talking to Gina.

"The score at the moment is one - nil to Liam's team," Gus had decided that now would be a good time to start his job as point scorer.

**Later that day in Elektra's room**

**Electra's P.O.V.**

"So we all know the plan right?" I said, hoping that they had been listening.

"Yes," Thank god they had!

"So what is it Carmen?"

"First, we go down into the kitchen and grab some bottles of Fairy Liquid, then we go into the boy's toilet and squirt them into the top bit of the toilet. We put a camera in there out of sight but first we set it up so that when the toilet flushes the camera starts filming. We wait until Liam goes to the toilet and then we watch as the whole bathroom becomes engulfed in bubbles. We put the video of it on youtube." Carmen replied in a expressionless voice, clearly bored with having to repeat it so many times. But I did not care. I did not care how bored they were as long as they did the prank properly. I would do anything to prank Liam and win the prank war.

"Good, so go on then, go and get the soap with Frank while I get the camera set up. Go on!"

No sooner had they walked out than Mike came in, he looked angry. Very angry.

"Elektra, Gus just told me everything about this 'Prank war' as you call it," He said, even doing air quotations with both of his fingers. He must be angry, Mike never does air quotations! "Then he showed me the discussion you lot had, and I am not happy about the things you said about Mina. I am stopping the prank war, and if there is one more prank then I will punish all of you very strictly indeed! Do you understand Elektra?"

I mumbled a yes.

"Good, I have told Liam and the others and I met Carmen and Frank coming down and forbid them from doing the prank you were about to do, they are now downstairs apologizing to Mina, which is where you should be too," He turned and walked out.

I followed him and under his eagle eye I apologized to Mina before slumping down on the sofa to watch the telly for a bit. Mike disappeared out of the door and I grabbed the remote off Harry and switched channels.

**A/N: End of chapter four, please review! **

**Also if you reviewed with an own character and you didn't put why they are in care, could you please either pm me or leave another review telling their past. Since I got about eight of them I can not promise to do all of them I'm sorry! I will choose some of my favs and do them. **


	4. A new Friendship and a Fight

**A/N: I really LOVE everybody who reviewed. I really have no idea where this story is going :( So if you have any ideas PLEASE PM me :) and I will LOVE you for ever! **

**I am skipping a few days so Mina has had a chance to settle in and get to know everybody better. **

**Anyways... here is chappie five...  
**

**A new Friendship and a Fight.**

**Mina's P.O.V.  
**

Tracy told us all today that Toby is coming back. I am really exited to meet another kid who stays here and hopefully he will want to be my friend.

I have been here at The Dumping Ground for nearly a week now and I have made lots of friends, I am also now friends with Carmen and Frank because they came and apologized to me for being so horrible. I have discovered that Carmen is really nice on the inside and loves dressing up like me. We have spent ages with Lily and Tee dressing each other up and having make - overs!

"Mina, do you want to come and help us get Toby's room ready? All we have to do is tidy it up a bit and Mike said if we do it quickly we can go and get ice creams with Toby when he arrives. Are you coming?"

I smiled and followed them up the stairs to Toby's blue room.

I smile a lot now, but I still don't talk. Quite a few times some of the kids in here have asked me why I don't talk, hoping to catch me out. I am going to talk, and soon, but just not yet. Not while _that_ day is still stuck in my head. That day my sister died, and worse of all? It was my fault, I had killed my very own sister. Why? Just because she had annoyed me. What sort of person am I? I killed my own sister and pretend she ran away. I don't deserve friends. That was part of the reason I don't talk, I don't want to say anything in case I hurt anybody. And the other part is that whatever I say, no - one listens to me anyway.

**Flashback**

_"No - one likes you Mina, you are weird and ugly," My sister Phoebe said mockingly, she was trying to get me to retaliate, but I would not, I would not let her get the better of me so I simply carried on walking, but I was walking faster, and faster, trying to get away from her remorseless teasing. But I couldn't, she was way faster than me and always won at school sports day.  
_

_We were on a family outing to Cardiff Bay ( As we lived in Cardiff at the time) . Our parents had stopped at a cafe and told us to have a little run around the beach, but nowhere they couldn't see us. I was so frustrated with my sister calling me names that I had forgotten about mum and dad's rule. Their voice came worming into my mind, and I remembered what they had said.  
_

_"Why don't you and Mina go and have a walk around the beach while we drink our tea, then love?" Said my dad to Phoebe._

_"Yes, but don't go very far and remember to stay where we can see you!" My mum agreed._

_"Okay," Me and Phoebe agreed happily, this was before Phoebe started teasing and mocking me, calling me names._

_We ran off but soon Phoebe started to call me ugly and weird, she carried on gradually saying more horrible thing to me._

___"No - one likes you Mina, you are weird and ugly," My sister Phoebe said mockingly, she was trying to get me to retaliate, but I would not, I would not let her get the better of me so I simply carried on walking, but I was walking faster, and faster, trying to get away from her remorseless teasing. But I couldn't, she was way faster than me and always won at school sports day.__ I was so frustrated with my sister calling me names that I had forgotten about mum and dad's rule. I half ran half walked toward Mermaid Quay, climbed up the steppes and ran along the Quay, hoping Phoebe would not see where I was. But it was too late, she had spotted me. And was running as fast as she possibly could towards me._

_____When she reached me she said something so horrible that I pushed her against the railings. Hard. She yelped in surprise and fell back against the railings. Then she screamed, and I saw something that I had not seen before. I had seen that the place on the railing that I had pushed her against was rusty and the railing broke, she screamed again, trying to grab onto something, but she couldn't. I lunged forward, trying to catch hold of her shirt. I failed to catch her and she tumbled over the edge to her death._

_____I did not know what to do, I couldn't face telling mum and dad that I had killed her. I made something up. I told my mum and dad, when I got back to the cafe they were at that she had run away and I had not seen where she went. _

_____They had police looking for her for months but they could not find her. I wonder why!? I was so scared that someone would find out that I had killed her, but luckily no - one did._

* * *

I grew up in fear of somebody finding out, I found out for myself during those years that living without my sister was hard. But I still told no - one. I keep getting nightmares and would often wake up boiling hot and covered in sticky sweat. But gradually, the amount of times I got these nightmares lessened and now I hardly get them at all. No more often than once a month.

I know I will tell everyone sooner or later and I know that in some of their cases like Tee it will be sooner but I just want to settle in here first before I wrecked it all by telling them all my past.

_Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong. _The bell went and Tracy hurried to answer it. Everybody else crowded around behind her, knowing it would be Toby, home from his part time foster parents. Sure enough, it was. The door opened and a boy walked in, carrying a bag which I presumed to hold his clothes. He had short blonde hair and looked around twelve. He looked like he was either Scottish or Irish I decided. I was very good at placing people in their nationalities and this boy was no exception. As soon as he spoke I could tell I was correct. He was obviously Scottish.

"Hello everyone, did you miss me?" He asked.

"Yes!" Everybody chorused.

"Toby, this is Mina," Tracy said, pointing at me, I smiled. "She doesn't talk," I shook my head and held out my hand. He shook it and said,

"Hello Mina, nice to meet you!" He seemed really nice and I smiled at him again.

* * *

I really think I am starting to get a crush on Johnny which is completely crazy since I know he would never, ever fancy a girl like me in a million years. Especially if he knew my past. I suddenly knew that I needed to talk if I ever wanted a boyfriend, so I walked out of my room and down the stairs. Just before I walked into the living room, I summoned up as much courage as I could muster, and walked bravely into the room. I spotted Tee and stepped up to her.

"Hi Tee," I said, yes that's right, _I said! _I think my voice was a bit rusty as I had not used it for over two months. The room fell silent as soon as the words were out of my mouth and Mike, who happened to be in the room at the time actually gasped out loud. He had read my file.

"Oh look, she does talk. See I told you she was just doing it for attention!"

I do not know why but that relatively short , simple sentence just set me off. If only she really knew why I was in care. I dived at Elektra who looked shocked, and to my surprise she fell over with me on top. The element of surprise really is very handy. I punched whatever bit of the blue clad girl as I could. Harder and harder. Then she kicked me and I nearly fell off her, but I was too angry to do that. My stomach killing, I landed another punch on her face before Mike started shouting for Tracy and pulled us both apart.

**A/N: sorry it is so short, I had written it up much longer and then my laptop decided it needed to update itself and I ( Being me ) had forgotten to save it so I just wrote this up quickly.**

**Please review, you have no idea how much It means to me.**


	5. Newcomers

**A/N: This is were I use your characters!The character with the awesome name of Charlotte was created by MusicLovinWriter, and I'll put the rest at the end.  
**

**PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

**Enjoy...**

**Newcomers**

**Mina's P.O.V.**

I do not know why but that relatively short, simple sentence just set me off. If only she really knew why I was in care. I dived at Elektra who looked shocked, and to my surprise she fell over with me on top. The element of surprise really is very handy. I punched whatever bit of the blue clad girl as I could. Harder and harder. Then she kicked me and I nearly fell off her, but I was too angry to do that. My stomach killing, I landed another punch on her face before Mike started shouting for Tracy and pulled us both apart.

"Mina, Elektra. Stop fighting this INSTANT!" Mike shouted, looking shocked. "Elektra, go to your room. Mina, office! Now."

I walked slowly towards the office, knowing that the time had come for me to finally tell someone what really happened that day at Cardiff Bay. I sat down on the swively chair and waited for Mike to say something.

"Umm, Mina. It's great to hear you talk, but not so great to see you trying to kill Elektra," I grinned apologetically, and he carried on, "Why don't you explain to me what made you suddenly decide to talk, hmm? I knew I had to tell him everything, starting from the beginning, so I did.

I told him about Phoebe and what actually happened to her, I heard him gasp at this point and then he told me to carry on. I told him about why I don't talk, I told him that it was because no - one listened and that there was no point if not even your parents, in a matter of life and death would listen to me. I told him, it was because I did not want to hurt anybody with what I said. And finally, last of all, I told him about , my liking of Johnny and how I thought that he would never like me if I never spoke.

When I had finished Mike looked shocked, he didn't speak for a while and then said,

"I shouldn't worry about Johnny not liking you, if my suspicions are correct then I'd say he likes you too!" I smiled gratefully at the man,

"Really? You think he actually likes me?" He laughed and then shooed me away saying he had some very important phone calls to make. Probably to the police to tell them about Phoebe.

* * *

Tee and I were sitting on the sofa, side by side, cross legged, watching the boys play pool, something they seem to do continuously. I don't know why they play it all the time, but then again I have never played pool so I don't know. The boys were playing in teams, Johnny and Toby against Frank and Liam, Johnny and Toby looked happy so they were probably winning. I don't know how to tell.

Soon after, Gina came in with some big news.

"Mina and Tee, you are both going to have to share, we have three new kids coming. Two today and one tomorrow. Tee, you will be sharing with a girl called **C**harlotte and Mina, you will be sharing with Emma. Okay babes?

"Yeah, " we said in unison.

Then there was a knock on the door, that will be them, I thought. It was, there were two girls standing on the door step looking shyly up at Gina. They both looked completely different to the other; One had dark black hair and light sapphire blue eyes and was quite tall and very slim and altogether exceedingly beautiful. The other was slightly shorter, had bushy brown hair, soft brown chocolate eyes but was equally pretty.

"Hi, I'm Charlotte Merryweather," Said the one with the amazing hair. ( The latter )

"I'm Emma Riley some people call me Emily but that's wrong my real name is Emma I like sports do you? I do lots of sports like net ball and foot ball and hockey do you do any sports?" The one with black hair said all in one go with a huge grin on her face, not giving me chance to answer she ran into the house, "Cool there's a piano I play the piano do you? I'm not very good at it though I always forget what note to play," She giggled and headed off into The dunping ground to explore for herself.

"Come in, " I said to Charlotte, "I love your name by the way!"

"Thanks, " She said with a smile, "What's yours?"

"I'm Mina," She grinned again and I led her off into the house. I could tell that we would be friends. I looked over my shoulder to see if Tee was coming, she was. We headed up towards my room, then I remembered Emma. I shouted to Tee that I was going to get her, Tee nodded and lead Charlotte into my room.

I hurried downstairs, not wanting Emma to be lost. Or have met Elektra first. The first room I checked in was the living room. She was there, happily playing pool with the boys like she had known them all her life. I blinked in surprise and then walked over to her.

"Hi, seems you've met everybody already then?" I asked, looking around I caught Liam looking at her, and not in a 'Staring blankly into space' kind of way either. It was a deep kind of stare, like he was completely in love with her already and she had only been here five minutes. I snapped my fingers in his face, "Ermm. Hello? Anybody there? LIAM!"

"What?" He asked, like he hadn't been staring at one particular girl for the past minute or so.

"Nothing," I replied sweetly, "Just try not to make Emma feel uncomfortable by staring at her like that, it's creepy," He glared at me and I smiled back at him, laughing inside.

Then Emma decided it was her turn to answer me,

"Yeah, I have met, Johnny, Toby, Frank and Liam," She told me, stressing the name Liam and shooting a side grin at him.

"Okay, do you want to stay here and play pool or do you want to meet the others with Charlotte?"

"I'll just stay here, if that's okay, I'll meet the others at dinner,"

"Right, see you later then!" I waved and ran up the stairs back to where Charlotte and Tee were sitting on my bed laughing together. I jumped on the bed too and joined in their conversation.

"So if, you don't mind me asking, " Tee was saying, "I have told you why I am in care, so why are you in care?" she asked curiously. Charlotte fidgeted with her fingers a bit before answering.

"Well, when I was younger, my dad got involved with illegal drug dealing. At the start he didn't do it much but then he gradually did more and more drugs and then he started taking them too and he practically lived off them and then he got arrested. For a few years after dad got locked up mum was fine and we carried on just the same as always. But then when I was twelve my mum started abusing me. It started with just one little smack when I was naughty but then it progressed like it did with dad but a different thing. My mum started hitting me for the fun of it and she would come home late from work and hit me. Once, when she had had a bad day at work she threw me across the room and I it the sink and now I have a big bruise there that still hasn't gone away," She finished, Tee and I were staring at her, sorry we had asked her about her past.

"Oh," I said, "Sorry,"

"It doesn't matter, I'm fine now!" She said brightly, "What about you Mina, why are you in care?"

"I took a deep breath, ready to tell her everything.

"When I was nine I went on a family outing to Cardiff Bay with my mum, dad and sister, Phoebe. My mum and dad went to the cafe and told me and Phoebe to go and play in the sand, but not to go out of their sight, so we wandered off. Phoebe was in a bad mood that day and was teasing me. I got upset and ran up the quay to the end, out of sight from mum and dad, Phoebe followed me. When she reached me she said something so horrible that I pushed her against the railings. Hard. She yelped in surprise and fell back against the railings. Then she screamed, and I saw something that I had not seen before. I had seen that the place on the railing that I had pushed her against was rusty and the railing broke, she screamed again, trying to grab onto something, but she couldn't. I lunged forward, trying to catch hold of her shirt. I failed to catch her and she tumbled over the edge to her death. I did not know what to do, I couldn't face telling mum and dad that I had killed her. So I made something up. I told my mum and dad, when I got back to the cafe they were at that she had run away and I had not seen where she went. They had police looking for her for months but they could not find her. I wonder why!? I was so scared that someone would find out that I had killed her, but luckily no - one did.

Then on the day of my eleventh birthday, my mum and dad were taking me on birthday treat. My dad speeded up so we could get there on time and we skidded on some ice. We crashed into a lorry and my mum and dad died," I stopped, looking down at my feet. I felt Tee put her arm around me and say, "It's okay Mina, It's over. It can't happen again,"

I nodded and then heard the shout of Gina, calling us down for dinner. Tee and I took Charlotte's hands and showed her downstairs. At the table I took my usual place next to Tee. I turned and looked at Charlotte who had an unsure look on her face. I smiled my best smile at her and patted the chair to the right of me, next to where Carmen usually sat, but she was not here yet, indicating that she should sit down there. She looked at me gratefully and sat down there.

Usually, Harry sat there but, once again, he was out with Sapphire. They were going on a trip to Dareington Safari Park in north east England, it wasn't too far away so Mike had allowed them to go on the condition that Tracy went too. Harry was so exited about meeting an actual real live giraffe. Or, 'meeting Jeff the third', as Harry had put it. I had always thought it cute the way the little, blonde haired boy always expressed his feelings and thoughts through his small toy giraffe, Jeff.

Tee, Charlotte and I were the first three to get to the kitchen, where we eat, so Gina had us lay the table. Each space had to have a plastic cup, blue pink or yellow, a knife and a fork. Gina would put the plates out when the rest got here, so as to keep the food hot. Just when we had finished laying the table, Gus came in saying something about an argument in the living room.

"The new girl wouldn't tell me her name, and I got cross and then Johnny told her to just tell me her name. For some reason she said no which made me even crosser, and I started shouting at her. Liam then started shouting at me not shout at her, but then Toby came in and started shouting at Liam and that she should have just told me her name. Soon after that Elektra joined in the fight, but I think she just likes shouting, rather than she actually had a point to make. Elektra joined in and punched Liam in the face." Gus read from his black note book that he carried around everywhere with him, I thought he had finished, but no, this is Gus, he tells every single detail of what happened and when it happened.

"Then, Liam and Elektra got in a fight and Toby tried to pull Elektra off Liam. I left them then because there was too much shouting and that's why they are not coming yet. They are having a huge argument and it's all the new girl's fault for not telling me her name and I don't like her at all!" He finished, banging his notebook down on the table, shutting it.

Gina sighed and looked frustratedly at me and Tee.

"Why don't you two girls go and fetch the others, Charlotte, you don't have to, we wouldn't want you to get scared on your very first day, now would we?" Gina asked in a rhetorical question fashion.

"No, it's okay, I'll come too," Charlotte answered firmly, much to Gina's surprise, she had not expected an answer. So the three of us headed into the living room to see pretty much what Gus has described, a fight. The only differences were that Elektra and Liam were rolling around on the floor, kicking and punching each other like their lives depended on it.

Johnny and Toby were just standing, watching, not sure what to do, It was Frank and Emma who were trying to pull the pair apart. Tee shouted that it was dinner time and the two stood up, still looking angry and glaring at each other, however, they both looked unhurt ... for the moment. They ( they meaning Liam, Johnny, Elektra, Toby, Emma and Frank ,) followed us out of the room and into the kitchen to have dinner.

Johnny sat opposite me with Frank on one side of him and Toby on the other, opposite Charlotte. Liam scowled and sat down next to his best mate Frank, while Elektra sat at the end of the table, like the queen of everything. Gus was at the opposed end of the table, scribbling away in his book, like usual. No change there then, I thought. Emma had plonked herself down by Liam, who now looked happy with the seating arrangement. Carmen and Lily came down moments after and Carmen sat next to Charlotte while Lily squeezed in next to her.

While every one was silent and eating their food, I decided to take the chance to introduce Charlotte and Emma to everybody at the table, so I began.

"Okay," I said, pointing at Tee next to me, "This is Tee, she's really nice," I said, making her blush a fiery red. "And loves sowing, Charlotte, you have already met her and probably know that too Emma, but just in case you didn''t ... At that end of the table is Elektra," I was making my way around the table.

**Emma's P.O.V.**

While we were eating a very nice dinner of spaghetti bolognese Mina introduced us to everyone at the table, Tee who is really nice and loves sowing; Elektra is the moody one. Like I found out earlier when she attacked poor Liam for no reason whatsoever; Liam himself who is a scammer and a conner. And so, so, sooo cute, I think I might have started to get a crush on him already, even though I have only been here a few hours. Maybe I could help him with his scams, growing up how and where I did, I know more than my fair share of scams and cons; Frank, Liam's best mate and assistant scammer. Frank also has Cerebral Palsy and is very nice, just like Liam; Johnny, Tee's sister and also especially tidy and loves helping, ( Weird or what? ) ;Toby, who loves comics and / or anything to do with them, like painting models; Gus, who I now know has Asperger's Syndrome and seems to constantly be writing in his black note book; Lily, the purple lover who wears the colour continuously; Carmen, who I have heard is a big drama queen and can never keep secrets but is nice.

Also, there is two others apparently. Harry ,who loves Giraffes and Sapphire, who I'm told is an amazing artist, are out for a day at a safari park but will be coming back to the Dumping Ground later on today.

**A/N: Please review, it means so much and brightens my day when I come home and see that I have a review, no matter how short or how long it's still a review! I don't mind criticism but only if you have a reason and how I can get better!  
**

**Charlotte Merryweather is TotalNerdyFanGirl's awesome character.**

**Emma Riley is JAMBERLOVERFOREVER's cool character.**


	6. Love at First Sight

**A/N: thanks to everyone who reviewed and helped me get 51 reviews *SOO HAPPY***

**Chappie 9 is here!**

**Charlotte Merryweather is TotalNerdyFanGirl's awesome character.**

**Emma Riley is JAMBERLOVERFOREVER's cool character.**

**Zaylie is Wall With A Fez's amazing character( I know I keep saying this, but I promise it's true this time. She will be in the NEXT chapter, I'm soo sorry I keep saying that, I'm just finding it hard to squeeze her in at the right time! )  
**

**The bit which is in Gus's P.O.V. isn't like Gus at all, I find him really hard to write and I fail at writing him :( Sooo, please don't judge me by that!**

**Special thanks to Meggie my bestie for reviewing every chapter and George my boyfriend for doing the same! Thanks guys!**

**Enjoyyyyyyyyyy (Hopefully)...**

**Love At ****First S****ight, Or Second...  
**

**Mina's P.O.V.**

I had just finished introducing everyone to Charlotte and Emma, when Gus told them it was time for their tour. They both opened their mouths to say something, but I shook my head at them and they closed them again,

"Just go with it," I whispered in Charlotte's ear, I think Emma heard too because she nodded and got up. Charlotte followed suit and they both left the table, following Gus and his note book.

**Gus's P.O.V.**

Charlotte and Emma got up and followed me out of the kitchen. I was taking them on my very own tour of The Dumping Ground, something that I give to every new person who arrives here. But, for the tour to work I need everyone else who is not on the tour to go to their own rooms and wait until my tour has finished.

"I need every one to go to their own rooms, I am about to give Charlotte and Emma their tour of Elm Tree House," I announced loudly, making sure everyone could hear me. "That includes you Mike, and you, Gina, or the tour won't work!"

Everyone hurried off to their own separate rooms, except from Lily and Carmen, of course, because they share rooms. So do Mina and Emma, and Charlotte and Tee, but Charlotte and Emma are on the tour so hopefully, they wouldn't be a problem. As long as they don't write in my note book or talk to anyone while they are on the tour or walk away or not listen during the tour, everything should be okay.

So, I took them on my tour, starting with Carmen's and Lily's room since that is the closest room to the kitchen.

"This is Carmen and Lily's room, they both live at the Dumping Ground. Carmen is twelve years old and loves the colour pink. Her best friends are Lily and Tee. Carmen is in care because her mum didn't look after her properly, she once left Carmen on her own for a whole week just so that she could go on holiday with her boyfriend. Carmen's mum once turned up here saying that she had changed and offering Carmen a chance to go and live with her in Spain. Carmen took up the offer but then it turned out that Carmen's mum was lying and Carmen did not want to go and live with her anymore."

I started off telling them about Carmen; why she was here, what sort of things she likes and her friends. Then I went on to Lily.

"Lily is twelve years old too. Her favourite colour is purple. Lily loves wearing purple and being with her sisters Rosie and Poppy who are fostered at the moment. Lily is in care because her mum died when she was little and her dad started drinking. Lily's best friends are Tee and Carmen"

I finished telling Emma and Charlotte about Lily and Carmen and moved on, I went all around the house so the only two I had left to tell them about was Tee and Toby.

"This is Tee's room, Tee is also twelve years old. Her favourite colour is blue. Tee loves sowing and all kinds of different animals, once she bought a sheep called Baaronicka Bellony Bi - bibulus Sapphy - bum The First to try and distract Lily from being upset when her sisters got fostered without her. Tee's best friends are Lily and Carmen"

Everything was going well and we only had Toby's room left to go, no - one had talked, no - one had written in my note book, and they had both listened carefully to what I had been saying.

**Charlotte's P.O.V.**

I was getting pretty tired of this 'tour' by the time we reached Toby's room, thankfully the last one. I thought back, was Toby that good looking blonde boy who had a definite Scottish accent when he introduced himself to me? Gus finished telling us about how Toby's parents had died in a car crash and he opened the door to show us Toby's room. Toby was laying on the bed reading a comic. He _was_ the good looking blonde boy with the Scottish accent!

"I have finished my tour, you may talk." Said Gus loudly in my ear, causing me to jump about a mile in the air in surprise. He turned and walked out of the room, leaving Emma and I alone with Toby.

"Hi, you're Emma and you're Charlotte, right?" He asked, pointing at us the wrong way around.

"No," I giggled a high - pitched laugh which wasn't mine. "I'm Emma and she's Charlotte," I said, getting mixed up,"Wait, no," I did that weird high - pitched girly giggle again that I don't know. Why was I going all funny? I got a strange feeling in my tummy each and every time I looked into Toby's deep, ever lasting eyes ... "I'm Charlotte and she's Emma," I giggled yet again and saw Emma give me a strange look.

"Okay, you're Emma and you're Charlotte, am I right this time?" He pointed at us correctly and I gave another laugh and a quick nod of my head before continuing randomly.

"Yes, you're right, you always are. That's because you are called Toby, you know everything," I rambled on about how people with the name of Toby knew loads of things and he looked a bit perplexed.

_Shut up, shut up. _A little voice said from inside my confused brain.

Why had I gone so strange around him?

_Because you're hopelessly in love with him._

How and why was I in love with him already?

_It's because he's so devilishly handsome, that's why._

I'd blown my chances of him ever liking me now though, I was acting like an insane person, he probably thought I was insane.

"Bye Toby, bye Charlotte, I'm just going downstairs, see you later maybe?" Emma disappeared out of the door and closed it swiftly behind her, but not before she gave me a sly grin that told me just how plainly obvious I was. Was I ever going to be any good around boys?

_No._

Thanks a lot.

_My pleasure. By the way, you really should stop having conversations in your head, you do know it's a bit weird!_

"So you're Charlotte?" I think he was still a bit confused about who was who.

"Yeah..." I replied, trying not to look into his eyes as I talked. I knew my face was going a bright, tomato red and I tried to keep my face down, so hopefully Toby wouldn't notice.

"Cool, nice name,"

"Thanks," I muttered and did my weird giggle again, making my face flush and even darker, deeper red than before. Just then, I heard Gina call me down, who could not hear Gina?

"CHARLOTTE! MINA! EMMA! Could you please all come down to the office, we need to talk to you all, yeah?"

I ran down the stairs two at a time and bumped into Mina and Emma at the bottom, Mina having come from upstairs and Emma having just come out of the living room, suspiciously, Liam was the only other one in there at the time.

All three of us walked into the office, side by side, wondering about why they wanted to talk to us.

When we got into the office, Gina and Mike were already there, eying us carefully.

"Sit down," Mike said, indicating three seats on the other side of the desk. We sat down. "Gina and I have been thinking about your schools. All three of you will have to move schools to the same high school that all the other kids here go to. One, because you all go to different schools so it would be confusing and hard to take you to them, and two because your present schools are too far away for you to keep going to, is that okay?"

I was glad I was moving schools, away from my old, horrible school, away from my bitchy friends who turned away from me the moment they had found out that my dad was a druggie and was in prison. They probably believed and thought I was a druggie too, thanks to some very nasty rumors that had spread around about me.

"The school is called Mountveille High and it is a very good school. As you probably know, Mina and Charlotte are both thirteen so they will both be in year eight with Lily,( Lily is moving in with her dad tomorrow so she won't be here for much longer, but she will stay at the same school) Johnny, Daniel and Toby. Emma, you will be in year nine, obviously, with Zaylie Frank and Liam," Gina carried on for Mike.

"Wait, Gina, who are Daniel and Zaylie?" I was thinking the same thing but Emma got there before me.

"Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you, there is another three kids moving in," Mike answered hurriedly.

"Three?" I asked, counting on my fingers, "That means seventeen kids!"

"Yes, but Sapphire is moving out the day before they come and Harry is going to live with her.** (Read the A/N at the end) **As I said before, Lily is going to live with her dad and that means there will be fourteen kids again,"

"Oh, okay,"

"Just to clear things up about everyone's age's, Carmen, Gus and Tee are twelve and so is Cherry, one of the new girls that will be arriving at the end of next week. You, Mina, Charlotte, Johnny, Toby and one other new boy called Daniel are thirteen. Emma, Liam, Frank and the last new girl, Zaylie are all fourteen. And Elektra is fifteen, meaning Gus, Cherry and Tee are in year seven at Mountveille High, Carmen, Mina, Charlotte, Johnny, Toby and Daniel are in year eight, Emma, Liam, Frank and Zaylie are in year nine, and last but definitely not least, Elektra is in year Ten," Mike finished, leaving my head spinning with numbers, "Do you all understand?"

"Yep," I said, popping the 'p'. Mina, who had been quiet for a while then spoke up and said,

"When will we start at Mountveille High?" She asked , I had been wondering that too.

"Next Monday, they have your school reports from last year and so they know roughly what level you are at and you have been setted according to your reports,"

"Okay, can we go now?" Emma was restless to go, probably so she could go see Liam again! Mike sighed but said we could and we all rushed off to go and tell the others.

* * *

**Mina's P.O.V.**

"So your going to be in the year above me and the same year as Carmen?" Tee was asking me dishearteningly.

"Yeah," I answered apologetically.

"Well, technically, you could be in the same year as Tee if you get put back a year because you can't do the work and find it really hard, that's what they did to my friend, Amy, she couldn't keep up with any of the work so they had to put her back a year," Carmen argued back pessimistically.

"Oh yeah, I know Amy, and no offense or anything Mina, but I really hope you do get put back a year because then you'll be in the same year as me!"

"Oh thanks Tee! Nice to know you want me to do well in school!" I said, joking sarcasm.

"No, Mina I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that I wanted you to be in the same year as me! Tee said hurriedly, not getting that I was joking. I laughed at her face and told her I was joking, when she found that out she started laughing too, and so did Carmen.

* * *

I wasn't really looking forward to school next week, I had to go and get uniform with Emma, Charlotte and Tracy on Saterday and then ... The dreaded school! I hoped it would be better than my last school, but then again, almost anything would be better than my last school.

_Almost._

**A/N I know the ages are completely different to TBR but that's how old I needed them to be :L And I know the thing about Harry moving in with Sapph couldn't happen I just needed to get rid of some characters so I could bring in new ones! Also I need to know if any of you think it matters if I have lodes of kids because *SPOILER ALERT* Rick and Tyler will come in at some point and I'm not sure wether I need to get rid of more Characters or not, PLEASE TELL ME.  
**


	7. School Part One

**A/N: Hi, I'm kinda disappointed at the response the last chapter got, I know it wasn't amazing but I hoped I'd get more reviews! Oh well :(**

**Charlotte Merryweather is TotalNerdyFanGirl's awesome character.**

**Emma Riley is JAMBERLOVERFOREVER's cool character.**

******Zaylie is Wall With A Fez's amazing character. (you didn't leave a second name so I made it up, Is that okay? I can change it if you want.)  
**

**Cherry Bradson is MusicalBooker's epic character.**

**Daniel Jones is Guest's character.**

**Just to let ya'll know, I put the two chapters named Shopping Pranks and Harry together, and that's why this story don't have so many chapters! in this chapter Harry has gone to live with Sapphire and Lily is with her dad, like I said would happen in the last chapter! **

**School P1  
**

**Mina's P.O.V.  
**

I wasn't really looking forward to school next week, I had to go and get uniform with Emma, Charlotte and Tracy on Saterday and then ... The dreaded school! I hoped it would be better than my last school, but then again, almost anything would be better than my last school.

_Almost._

* * *

I've got a feeling today isn't going to be great, what with the three new kids coming to The Dumping Ground we will have to sort out their rooms and make sure they all tell Gus their name's, and then school uniform shopping later on today with Emma, Charlotte and the three new kids. What fun! Not.

The door bell rang and Tracy hurried to get it. I couldn't be bothered to go and welcome the new kids and neither could anyone else in the living room, judge from the looks on their grumpy faces.

We heard Tracy introduce herself to them and then ask them for their names, even though she already knew their name's she was trying to be polite. Then, we heard her laugh and she told them to come on in and meet the rest of the kids. I saw Gus getting ready with his notebook, ready to pounce on them as soon as they walked through that door, ready to request their full name's, age's and a complete story of why they are in care.

They walked in, there were two girls and one boy. One of the girls had gorgeous, thick red hair that glistened in the light and lovely soft brown eyes which looked caring. I could tell from the way that she dressed that she was a bit of a tomboy and not one of those girly - girls that I don't usually get on with. She was wearing dark blue skinny jeans and a ( slightly too small for her ) t - shirt that had the word _GEEK _printed on in large black letters. On her feet were red All Star Converse.

The boy was slightly taller than the red haired girl. He had short, light blond hair, which was spiked up a lot at the front but not so much at the back. His hair framed his face perfectly, a face which was flecked with light brown freckles that covered his whole face, giving him a cute 'little boy' look. He looked nice enough, I suppose. He wore much the same as the other girl; skinny jeans and a t - shirt, however, the jeans were dark maroon colour and the shirt was a red Man United shirt. He also had brightly colored foot ball boots, without the studs in, of course, that looked brand new. Did he play footie? I wondered.

The last girl had dark skin and silky black hair which was braided up in what looked like near a thousand braids and tied up at the top of her head. She looked kind, how I could tell I have no idea, she just looked like one of those kind people, you know what I mean? She was carrying a case that looked like it might hold some sort of musical instrument, it was black and roughly 60cm long.

"Right kids! Listen up!" That was Tracy trying to get our attention and failing to. "This is Cheryl-" Tracy was interrupted by an exasperated girl; the red head of the bunch.

"For the last time, it isn't Cheryl it's Cherry!"

"Okay, Cherry, no need to shout. So this is Cherry," Tracy pointed at the red head again.

"We gathered that," Elektra was in a bad mood again. Tracy ignored her and carried on.

"This is Daniel, or Danny as you can call him," Tracy had made the mistake once of forgetting one of their nickname's, she wasn't about to do the same thing again. She used her left hand and pointed at the boy in the middle.

"And this," She said, now pointing at the girl with braids, "This is Zaylie," With that Tracy left the room to leave the newbies to settle in and get to know us. Gus decided it was time for him to take over.

"Name," He ordered Cherry, "First and second," Cherry looked surprised at the sudden question but answered shortly.

"Cherry Bradson,"

"Age?"

"Twelve,"

"School year?"

"Seven,"

"Hobbies?"

"Reading, writing and pranking people," At this last answer Liam looked up interestedly.

"Dislikes?"

"Umm, I don't know,"

"Okay, you're done, next!" Cherry looked a little confused as Gus stepped over to Daniel and asked him the same things, writing in his small - ish black note book continuously.

"Name?" He ordered, to Danny this time though, "First and second," Danny, having seen what had happened to Cherry knew what was coming.

"Daniel Jones, some people call me Danny or Dan,"

"Age?"

"Thirteen,"

"School year?"

"Eight,"

"Hobbies?"

"Playing football with my friends, my position's striker," At this last answer Liam looked up again, he liked playing footie, his position on the school team was striker, and I could tell what he was thinking, 'This new boy better not take my position, if he makes the school foot ball team.'

"Dislikes?"

"Chocolate,"

"Okay, you're done too, next!" Gus then walked over to Zaylie, muttering something about Daniel / Danny / Dan."Name?" This was the third round of Gus's questions and he hadn't changed a word. "First and second," Zaylie told him.

"Zaylie Miraker, you can call me Zaylie or Zay,"

"Age?"

"Fourteen and a half,"

"School year?"

"Nine,"

"Hobbies?"

"Music, I play the Oboe,"

"Dislikes?"

"Bullies,"

"Okay. Thank you, now I need to go and add this information to my chart!" Gus walked out of the room, staring down at his note book like it had grown legs.

* * *

"Okay, Mina, Emma, Charlotte, Cherry, Zaylie and Daniel, you need to come with me into town now to get your new school uniform for Mountveille High,"

Tracy walked into the room, talking as she did about our school uniform, "Both the girls and the boys have a different uniform and P.E. kit, if you decide to do any of the school clubs we will have to buy you the competition kit as well, which is just a pair of long maroon socks." She told us.

I sighed, and got up from the sofa, followed by Emma, Charlotte, Cherry, Zaylie and Daniel, I ran upstairs, taking each step two at a time,so as to not hold the rest up, I grabbed a coat from my wardrobe and ran back down, equally as fast as I was on the way up . I reached the bottom and raced outside and soon found everyone else who was going to buy their new school uniform and Tracy standing by Tracy's cherry red car which was parked haphazardly in the drive. We all got in the car and Tracy drove us into town.

The shop which sold our school uniform was called _ShOp4ScHoOl _and it looked like it held every single school's in existence's uniform and P.E. kit! As we entered I heard a smiley man on the left ask us what school we needed uniform for. I heard Tracy reply that we were starting at Mountveille High and he nodded and showed us to another part of the shop, it was labeled _Mountveille High _and it had many racks with lots of different school uniform in, all were emblazoned with a golden bird flying upwards on a cloud of white with a school motto which I presumed to be Mountveille High's. The motto was _Soar to success as if you were a bird, _hence the golden bird flying upwards.

The man asked Tracy for our ages and which year we would be in and then started walking around the isles of Mountveille High uniform, picking out what we would need and the right sizes. He did the boys first ( There was only one boy: Daniel ) and gave Daniel a maroon hoody, yellow t - shirt and a pair of black trousers and told him to go and try it all on. Daniel came out of the small fitting room a couple of minutes later, dressed in his normal clothes again.

"Did it all fit?" Tracy asked, her fingers crossed we wouldn't have any fuss getting his uniform.

"Yeah, everything was fine, is that all I need?" He answered, asking a question of his own too. The smiley man who was helping us answered.

"No, you still need the P.E. kit, I'll get that now for you," He turned and walked off again, picking up more clothes as he did. He came back soon enough, this time with the sports kit. The P.E. kit was made up of two kits, one for rugby and the other for any other sports. The rugby one consisted of a pair of black shorts and a striped yellow and maroon long sleeved shirt. The other, had a white t - shirt and a pair of white shorts, they also had a pair of long socks which were maroon striped with yellow at the top. I had guessed by now that the school colours were yellow and maroon.

Daniel went to try on the two kits and came back smiling.

"Perfect fit," He confirmed to Tracy and she grinned, one sorted, five to go!

"Right the girls next," Tracy said, pointing at us with her index finger. She listed our age's and school year's and the smiley man went off again. When he came back he had the girls uniform for a size and age twelve. He gave them to Cherry and she went to change. She came out dressed a a maroon V - neck jumper, a yellow t - shirt ( not unlike the boy's ) , a pair of black opaque tights and a black pleated skirt. It seemed to fit so she went and tried on the sport kit. The sports kit was a pair of long maroon socks with yellow stripes at the top, like the boy's , a black skort, a white polo shirt - again like the boy's kit - and a black jumper.

Each of us tried on our uniform in turn, from smallest and youngest to tallest and oldest, Zaylie. When we were all done and had the whole kit Tracy thanked the man, payed the bill and we left the shop with our new school uniform.

* * *

**The next day**

**Mina's P.O.V.  
**

_PIINNNNNGGGGGGGG,  
_

I reached over and pressed the_ stop _button on my alarm clock, causing it to stop ringing and fall silent. I groaned, it was my first day at Mountveille High and I wasn't looking forward to it at all. To start with I'm not very good around new kids, then, I'm not very good at school anyway and also I don't really get along with many teachers so altogether school is not really my sort of thing.

I got up and reached for my brand new school uniform. Jumper, shirt, tights and a skirt. I pulled it all on and went into the bathroom to have a shower and brush my teeth, not forgetting my minimal amount of make up. The shower was so lovely and warm I forgot I was meant to have a quick one and I spent nearly ten whole minutes relaxing in the warmth of the running water. It was so peaceful and quiet I forgot about school, about the time, about everything... Until I heard Gina's tell tale shouting echoing into the room. Disturbing my peaceful state of mind and making me hurry out of my glorious shower.

"MINA! IT IS NEARLY HALF PAST EIGHT, YOU NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL IN HALF AN HOUR! HURRY UP!"

Oh god, I forgot about school! I bolted out of the shower, did my make up, a bit of foundation and mascara, pulled on my clothes again and hurried out of the room. I ran downstairs and got a bowl and some cereal out of the cupboard, swallowed it all down before realising that everyone was staring at me.

"Umm, Mina? It's not half past eight, Gina just wanted you to hurry up," Johnny spoke up.

"Oh, I knew that ... I was just ... Um ... I didn't want to be late," I said hurriedly, hoping I sounded like I was telling the truth. Johnny nodded, like he didn't believe me but didn't want to say anything about it. I glanced at the round, kitchen clock face, to see what the tie really was. Eight o clock. Good, I had enough time for a proper breakfast.

* * *

**At Mountveille High**

**Mina's P.O.V.  
**

There were six new pupils for Mountveille High from Elm Tree House our care home. Me ( Mina ), Emma, Charlotte, Cherry, Zaylie and Daniel. I think that all of us girls looked a bit shy but Daniel - the only new boy - strode in, confidence written in big, black, bold letters across his freckled face. We were accompanied by the rest of the Elm Tree House kids, of course, only the ones which went to Elm Tree House.

Johnny, Liam and Tee took us six to go and see the headmistress, so we would know which form we would be in before the bell went. The headmistress's office was rather blank, it merely had a posh, black, leather sofa and a matching leather chair at an old wooden desk. Sat in the posh, black, leather chair was Miss Lewis, Mountveille High's headmistress. She turned around to face us and asked for our name's. Once we had given them to her she proceeded to tell us which registration class's we would be in for the rest of this year, and the rest of our time at Mountveille High.

"Right, let's see ... You're Cherry, right? You're in 7P. Emma is in 9A along with Zaylie, I think Liam is in 9A too, aren't you Liam?" He nodded and she carried on, "Mina, you and Charlotte are in 8D," She was interrupted by an over exited Johnny.

"That's the same form as me Mina! You'll be in the same classes as me!" I grinned, maybe Mike was right after all ...

"That leaves you, Daniel, you're in 8A with Toby. Is that okay with everyone?" We all nodded, happy with the arrangements.

**A/N: Please review! It makes me soo happy! I love everyone who has already reviewed to bits! The next chapter will be in two weeks cos I'm going on holiday! Yeyy, I would be very happy if I came back to lots of nice reviews, but of course they don't have to be nice, there is always room for imptovement! See Ya all!**

**Ronniexx**


	8. School Part Two

**A/N: Hey all! My trip was cancelled due to the weather so, here I am, wring another chapter. Please read and review it makes me smile so much!**

**Charlotte Merryweather is TotalNerdyFanGirl's awesome character.**

**Emma Riley is JAMBERLOVERFOREVER's cool character.**

******Zaylie is Wall With A Fez's amazing character. (you didn't leave a second name so I made it up, Is that okay? I can change it if you want.)  
**

**Cherry Bradson is MusicalBooker's epic character.**

**Daniel Jones is Guest's character.**

**Eliza Durnall is Meggie's character.**

**P.S. Sorry about the horse talk later in the chapter, if you don't understand it skip it.**

**NeveB - Thanks for reviewing, yes you can leave a character but your character will be in school with them for a bit and then will have to go to Elm Tree House cos something happened at home, do they will not be straight in The Dumping Ground.**

**School P2**

**Mina's P.O.V.**

"That's the same form as me Mina! You'll be in the same classes as me!" I grinned, maybe Mike was right after all ...

"That leaves you, Daniel, you're in 8A with Toby. Is that okay with everyone?" We all nodded, happy with the arrangements. "You may go now," Miss Lewis said. Johnny grabbed my arm and started leading me out of the office, saying something about introducing me to his friends and showing me around the school. Unfortunately there was no time for any of that as the second we reached the door to the playing field the bell rung. Scaring me out of my wits. I sighed with relief when I realised it was just the bell signalling the start of reg. Why were we standing so close to the bell?

"I'll show you to 8D. It's just over here..." Johnny started leading me through one corridor after the other. Left... Right... Right... Left... Right... I couldn't keep up! Then I remembered that Charlotte was in 8D too! Where was she? She couldn't possibly know the way, we'd have to go back and look for her.

"Johnny! Wait! Charlotte was meant to be in 8D too!" I shouted over the noise of the corridor.

"Oh yeah, I'll just take you to 8D since we're nearly there and then I'll go back and look for her!" Johnny shouted back at me. I nodded and carried on running after him.

When we arrived at the door of 8D I was surprised to see Charlotte already there.

"Charlotte!" I called, hoping she would / could hear me and come over. She did hear me and ran over to meet us. "How did you know where to come?" I asked.

"Oh, umm Toby showed me," She answered, twirling a strand of her bushy light brown hair around her finger. She had gone red. Does she fancy Toby? Must do from the look on her face!

"I _see_!" I said, drawing out the word _see _for as long as I could. Then the door opened and what I supposed to be our form teacher came out into the hallway.

"Quiet please 8D! Come on in, have you all had a nice weekend?" Everyone walked in, bar Johnny, Charlotte and I . Johnny walked up to the teacher and explained that Charlotte and I were new. He nodded and told us to come in and He'd introduce us to the class. We went in and Johnny went to go and sit down next to a boy his age with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"This is Mina and Charlotte," The teacher said, I had now learned that his name was Mr Morse. "I want you all to be very nice to them and show them around if they get lost, understood? Mina you can go and sit next to Eliza over there, yes that's right the one with brown hair. Now, where can we put you Charlotte?" He looked around for a space. "Aha! You can go and sit next to Phoebe, over there on the far left."

Phoebe, Phoebe, Phoebe. The name rang a bell. I craned my head around to see the girl mentioned, to see if I knew her, but I couldn't quite see her. Charlotte's head was in the way.

"Hi, my name's Eliza. What's yours? It's Mira, right?" The girl named Eliza asked me before I could think any more about the mystery of Phoebe.

"What? No it's Mina," I answered curtly, annoyed she had distracted me.

"So, what's your hobbies? What do you like doing?" She asked again. I could see this was another Carmen.

"Umm, I..." I didn't finish but that didn't seem to stop her, she ploughed on.

"I like horses, I have my very own horse named Paddy. Have you ever ridden a horse? Maybe you could come over to mine sometime with your parents and ride Paddy?" She asked yet another question. I actually do know how to ride horses and have ridden them before. It's one of those sports that just let's you be on your own with your favorite thing in the world. Your horse. I used to have a horse. Her name was Fanta, short for Fantasia.

She was an arab x welsh pony and was dun of colour. She had four black stockings and on her inside hind foot she had a white sock. She had a white half star under her forelock and was the cutest horse ever. Fanta was thirteen point two hands high and twelve years old. Fanta and I used to go on long hacks around her field, jumping the occasional log. Fanta was quite hard to jump because she had a accident a few years before I got her and it had scarred her for life, both physically and mentally. She had a five centimeter scar running down her outside front leg for the physical part. And mentally she didn't like jumping any more. She would do it but it was hard for her.

And that's what I told Eliza, everything about Fanta. We had a really nice conversation about horses which I hadn't been able to have for a while because each time I started to try and talk to anyone at the Dumping Ground they wouldn't understand a word I was saying. So I left it. But with Eliza, however, I could chat about anything to do with horses or ponies and she would understand. We had gotten to a point were she was telling me about her pony, Paddy, he seemed really nice and I hoped that she would invite me over some time so I could ride him. Maybe once we got a it closer though, I barely knew her at the moment.

"Yeah ... Paddy's a Welsh pony cross Welsh cob, so he's quite a heavy pony. He's quite young too. Paddy's a skewbald and he's thirteen point thre hands high so a tiny little bit taller that Fanta. He has one wall eye which I think is really cute! What's your address and phone number, I could call you some time and you could come over to mine and see Paddy for yourself?" I was really happy that she thought of that.

"Okay! My phone number is zero seven seven four seven eight five six seven one three and my address is one hundred and fifty seven Ely Road Cres-"

I started saying, reeling off my _old _home address, "No, I mean, my address is fifteen Elm Road, the house is called Elm Tree House," I looked down at the table, hoping against hope she wouldn't mind that I came from a children's care home and still let me come and see Paddy.

"Okay, is that the children's care home?" Great.

"Yeah, can I still come and see Paddy?" I asked, throwing caution to the wind.

"Of course, why not?" She answered my question in another question. Looking confused as she did.

"Don't worry," I said grinning.

Then, Charlotte moved her head and I caught a glimpse of the girl, she had long brown hair, not unlike mine, and soft brown eyes. There was something about her that I recognised, I just couldn't find that thing, or where I recognised her from. It was a mystery. Then she moved her face to face mine and I saw something I hadn't seen before. I knew who she was. And I was gobsmacked. She couldn't be. How could she? She was ... She ... She was ... D ... She was dead, well, she was _meant _to be dead. She was _meant_ to be dead. Dead!

**A/N: PLEASE READ THE NEXT BIT OR YOU WILL BE CONFUSED \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ DOWN THERE \/ \/ \/ \/  
**

**HORSE TERMS:  
**

**Arab cross Welsh Pony - Arab and Welsh Pony are both breeds of horse, the cross bit means she's part Arab part Welsh Pony.  
**

** Dun - This is a colour, it is like a golden yellow.  
**

** Stockings - This is a leg marking, it simply means that her legs are black****(Or any other colour) ** up to her elbow/knees.

**Sock - This is again a leg marking, it means that her legs are black(Or any other colour) up to her ankle/wrist.**

**Inside hind foot - The left back leg.**

** White half star - This is a marking on her face, it is like half a circle of white.  
**

** Forelock - This is the bit of mane that comes down over her face at the front.  
**

**Mane - Her hair.**

** Thirteen point two hands high (13.2hh) - This is how you measure horses, in hands. 13.2hh is about a 1.3 meters or 54 inches.  
**

**Hack (s) - A trek or a ride outside or through the countryside on your horse.  
**

**Outside front leg - The right front leg.  
**

**Welsh Pony cross Welsh Cob - This means part Welsh Pony breed and part Welsh Cob breed.  
**

**Heavy - This is a term used to describe horses which are quite stocky or were bred for cart pulling, can also mean strong.  
**

**Skewbald - A colour where the horse is white and there is patches of brown on the horse.  
**

**Thirteen point three hands high (13.3hh) - Slightly taller than 13.2 but not by much.  
**

**Wall eye - Horses usually have brown eyes and it is rare for a blue eye to be seen, however, you get a Wall eye when there is a patch of white covering the horse's eye. This is very rare and mostly only happens on a skewbald or piebald or tricoloured horses. A wall eye is a blue eye.  
**

**Piebald - ****A colour where the horse is white and there is patches of black on the horse.**

******Tricoloured - ********A colour where the horse is white and there is patches of both brown and black on the horse.**

**************ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HORSE BIT OR IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND MY DEFINITION OF THE TERMS PM ME OR LEAVE A REVIEW AND I WILL EXPLAIN IT IN MORE DETAIL!**


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